Day 25: My First Race!

After 22 years of living, I finally participated in my first race!  It was quite exciting...well, at least the chicken soup at the end was exciting...haha  No, really I was a bit nervous before the 5K started.  During, I was a little scared.  By the end, I was relieved.  My "experienced" running buddies, Athena and Leah, did great on the run, although they both admitted to being nervous while we paced around, waiting to start.  (Maybe they were just trying to make me feel better?  ; )

Our route through the developments surrounding Elizabethtown College was relatively flat, but had a couple unexpected hills here and there.  We enjoyed waving and shouting "Hi!" to the neighbors standing in their driveways watching.  One such lady asked us what we were running for... I couldn't come up with one good reason... just for fun?  Nah, couldn't be that.  Thinking back, it's funny that we could even carry on a conversation with her at all.  Just shows you how fast we were running...

Of course most of the race we were joking about our "love of running."  I think our fellow joggers enjoyed this, but come to think of it, I guess it was a little gutsy of me to suggest shortcuts and complain about hills, considering the fact that some of these people actually enjoy doing this!  Eh, they didn't seem offended.  I bet some would have even joined me if I would have cut through that development instead of going around it...

Our pace was definitely brisker than normal.  I got a cramp in the first tenth of the first mile.  (No worries, it went away)  Leah led the way for most of the run, finally losing us about half of the way through.  We eventually caught up to her in the last tenth, but I was quickly left in the dust again, only this time by Athena sprinting towards the finish line.  We were all within a couple seconds of each other, hovering just under and over 30 minutes.  Not bad for the first one!  Of course come February and March, we'll have do even better, so maybe we shouldn't have even gone that fast this time... oh well.  I'm a beginner.

So I guess I can say I kind of enjoyed this 5K.  Not the running part, mind you, but the interaction with other runners: chatting with the Marine Corps Marathon guy and his dog beforehand, complaining about injuries with the guy who took our picture for us afterwards, thanking the traffic director people at each intersection and having one respond back, "Thanks for running!"  The weather was also gorgeous for a mid-January run... The only thing I can think of that we could have done without was that guy running behind us with the deafeningly swooshy, spandex pants.  Not sure how that's possible, but hopefully we'll outrun him next time.  : )

Athena, Kendra & Leah 

Frozen Foot Series #1

Posted by Kendra

Day 25:  Part TWO!

Yup, that's right... as if the 5K race wasn't enough for us today!!!  We decided to stick to our marathon training schedule and complete a full 5 miles today.  After maybe an hour of relaxing at Leah's apartment, we embarked on a relatively flat run around Etown that ended up being just about 2 miles (1.9 miles to be exact)!  It was perhaps slightly slower than our race pace, but I'd say still fairly quick (though we didn't time it).

Highlights:  Some traffic caused us to have to run in place before crossing the street - we probably ended up running further than we planned!  We came across a limp German Shepherd along the way and decided to reduce the possibility of being chased by moving to the sidewalk on the other side of the street.  We had a short break while Leah picked up a movie from the local Redbox that we passed.

I cannot speak for the other two ladies, but my body was aching slightly after the run.  Actually I still hurt.  However, doing a "short" run was kinda nice - it went by quickly!  We then were excited to treat ourselves to yummy smoothies made with fruits, soy milk, oj, and flax seed... mmm!