Today was the Drop & Trot 5K. I had two goals going into the run...
1. Run the entire 5K, no walking.
2. Complete the 5K in 30 minutes.
The first goal was obviously the more important of the two for me. And guess what? I DID IT!! I ran the ENTIRE 5K, no walking! No stopping to catch my breath or drink water (though I did drink a couple cups of water while running - lots of dribble down the front of my shirt there!), just running! I am proud of myself for that. You see, not only was this my first 5K event to run in, this was the first time I have ever run 5K in one shot. EVER. I'd never even made it past 2.15 miles in my practice runs, so I wasn't sure I could do it. But I can. And I did.
As for my time... I didn't quite make the run in 30 minutes. My final time was 31:52, but I am proud of that! My legs felt pretty much like jelly at the end of the run, so I was just happy that I could push to the end, and even speed up for a good finish! 31:52 is just about a 10 minute mile and I am proud of it!! But my "official" time, after it was adjusted from the "drop" part of the Drop & Trot was 23:42. Sounds a whole lot better, eh?? See, before the run starts the participants have the option of seeing how many push ups they can do in one minute. For every push up you do, they take 10 seconds off your run time. I did 49! I originally wasn't going to do the push up part, because I didn't think I could do very many. But I got to do girl push ups, and I can do more of those for sure! And I did!!
So... Now I have run my 5K. I have made it through the Couch to 5K program, and successfully competed in a 5K run. That was my goal. I don't know if I count myself as a runner yet, but it's a start. And last night Leif and I went on a date downtown for the artwalk and stopped in Chalet Sports to see their 50% off shoe sale. So I got some new running shoes! I think that means it's time to break them in, so I guess I'll keep running! Maybe not 3x a week, and maybe not following the C25K program any longer, but I have a new goal brewing in my mind and my new shoes will help me get there.
