Sunday, August 23, 2009

The Panther Run 5k

March arrived and the school where my hubbie teaches was going to have a 5k on the 28th. This would be my first race. Was I really prepared? No, not by a long shot. Physically, I was okay, but running is a mental challenge as well.

The morning of I got up at 5:30 for a 8:00 start. The first thing I did was check the outside temp. It was 64 degrees and overcast, perfect. At 6:15 rain started falling. I proceeded to go ahead and eat and drink coffee. I knew I needed something in my stomach but drinking coffee? That was not too smart. I was already a nervous wreck and that caffeine didn't help.

Luckily the rain only lasted a few minutes and then off we went to the race. After registering I stretched out my legs and tried to get ready for the race. My heart was about to come out of my throat and I felt like I was almost shaking. Amazing what caffeine and adrenaline will do to a person.

At the sound of the start I bolted like any untrained runner does. As I'm running along I really feel like I am going to "lose my cookies" and I hadn't gone 200 yards. Oh my, how was I going to make 3.1 miles? I realized I needed to slow down which I did a bit.

The course was really a nice, flat one. Gray clouds floated above our heads but luckily held back anymore rain. No one was calling out splits so I had no idea where I was in the race. I just had to keep on truckin. Finally we were on the very last part of the course but I was feeling pretty tired.

I could see the finish line just up ahead. Wow, what a glorious sight! My time? 25:24. No too bad for my first race but I was feeling really glad that it was over. In the end I got the Grand Masters trophy and 1st place for my age group.

Even tho I felt really horrible during the race, I knew now that I wanted to do more.

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