5K intake. Kind of long.

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So I did my second 5K ever today and I am sore, tired and proud of myself. I walked down an hour before the start of the race to go get some cold water and Gatorade gummies from the gas station by my house, and also close to the start/finish of the race. I downed my water and ate my gummies while I waited for the race to start.

I made some friends at the race today as well. I am actually waiti for them to respond to my friend request on Facebook and then I will able to friend them on mfp as well. It is going to be so great to have some local fitness friends!

We all walk down to the post office area to start the race and they have the walkers and runners start together, strange but ok, so we're off. The runners broke away from the pack and were out of sight in a matter of minutes. I tried to keep a good pace going the whole time and was doing really well until about mile two. It seemed like most of the race was steep uphill but we did not really get a steep downgrade after the uphill portion.

Around mile two we were in an area of town I have not been in for years and I had a little trip down memory lane remembering when I went to the dance studio on that side of town and we passed by my late aunt's house.

It's around here that I changed my playlist to my metal music to attempt to give myself a little mental push to get past the pain and keep going. At this point I was starting to get a pain in my back on my right side, probably from breathing really heavly exclusively through my mouth. I still have not really gotten the hang of how to breathe properly while racing.

A girl who was walking close to me had told me that she had recently had surgery on both of her legs and we would be able to finish this togehter. I started to fall behind her a little bit but I jogged back up to her Nd we did the who,e last mile together.

I finished with a time of 46 minutes, which is two minutes slower than my first race but this had more hills. I did not finish last and I was pretty happy about that. It seems like keeping a steady pace was a better idea then trying to run as far as I can like I did the first time. I had a speed of about 4 miles per hour average and I went about 8 miles per hour at my fastest, must have been one of my short jogs.

I stayed for the awards ceremony and sadly I did not win anything, I think the 25-29 age group had the most people in it.

But all in all I am really proud of myself and I want to do more races and keep improving my time. Maybe next time I can even get my husband to join me, he would out pace me I think. I have caught the 5K bug officially.

Replies

  • theglencoegirl
    theglencoegirl Posts: 69 Member
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    great job!! anytime we finish we should be really proud of ourselves! keep up the great work!! i have moved onto 1/2 marathons after doing some 5's, and 10s! enjoy your training!!
  • freyaheart
    freyaheart Posts: 220 Member
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    great job!! anytime we finish we should be really proud of ourselves! keep up the great work!! i have moved onto 1/2 marathons after doing some 5's, and 10s! enjoy your training!!

    I might think about doing a 10K when I am sub 30 minutes.
  • theglencoegirl
    theglencoegirl Posts: 69 Member
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    you will know when its time to change your goal! i found the biggest factor was how much i was willing to run--i have little kids and now they are 4 and 6 and its much easier to get out regularly and what a difference!
  • freyaheart
    freyaheart Posts: 220 Member
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    For me it's just a matter of when I'll be able to push myself harder without feeling like I am going to die.
  • yspen42
    yspen42 Posts: 285 Member
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    Good job
  • grimendale
    grimendale Posts: 2,153 Member
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    The racing community tends to be very helpful and friendly. Glad you enjoyed yourself. If you want to decrease your time, your best bets are going to be adding some longer runs to build endurance (start with 3.5 miles and work up to a 10k, perhaps) and doing interval runs to build speed (there are a lot of good online plans for this). Keep up the good work. My first 5k time was about 40 minutes, and I've gotten it down to just under 30 now. I've got my next 10k coming up in a couple weeks, and I can't wait. Grats on your run.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
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    Very happy for you! This is a HUGE triumph, and is the start. My wife got me into one, didn't train, took 70 minutes for a 5k due to shin splints that were misting up my eyes.

    My next was 43 minutes with some training and a little shin splints.

    My most recent 34 minutes. You'll get it down there. Just keep pushing, and believing in yourself, you're awesome and you proved it. :)
  • astronomicals
    astronomicals Posts: 1,537 Member
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    Considering that you walked for an hour prior to the race, I'm going to say you completed a 10K... Good job :)
  • Saree1902
    Saree1902 Posts: 611 Member
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    great job!! anytime we finish we should be really proud of ourselves! keep up the great work!! i have moved onto 1/2 marathons after doing some 5's, and 10s! enjoy your training!!

    I might think about doing a 10K when I am sub 30 minutes.
    Why wait? :smile: you're already well on your way with the training
    My first 5k was 43mins and I signed up for a 10k the following year. quite a wait, but this gave me time to build it up.
    Well done! :bigsmile:
  • CarsonRuns
    CarsonRuns Posts: 3,039 Member
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    great job!! anytime we finish we should be really proud of ourselves! keep up the great work!! i have moved onto 1/2 marathons after doing some 5's, and 10s! enjoy your training!!

    I might think about doing a 10K when I am sub 30 minutes.

    The best way to improve your 5K time is to train for a 10K. The best way to improve your 10K time is to train for a half marathon.

    If you run further, you will naturally become faster as you gain aerobic fitness. Welcome to the Runner's Guild. :smile:
  • squirrell79
    squirrell79 Posts: 154 Member
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    Great job! Kudos to you for hanging in there and doing your best. The rest (lower time, not feeling like you're going to die) will come with time. Slow and steady wins the "Overall Running and Life Race"!