Runner By Day....

Today was a day circled on my calendar for some time. I wanted to get in an official 5K run before the end of the year for two reasons, to have a goal for the end of this year, and to have an official time and a measurable achievement to try to improve upon in the upcoming year.
I ran in the Vern's No Frills 5K this morning. I was surprisingly anxious, I guess a little worried about my first run, because runs with other people have a tendency to feel like race. I showed up super early to register and ended up just sitting in my car trying to stay warm (it was 40 degrees this morning). As I sat in my car I watched these amazingly thin and fit looking people walk by my car to register and I thought, great, I'm going to finish last by a longshot. But I was able to catch myself and remember that my goal for this run was not to beat or impress a bunch of strangers; rather, it was to prove to myself that I can run 3.1 miles. My anxiety subsided as I thought less and less about the other people. Interstingly enough, there was a young girl, maybe 12 years old, and she was ahead of me, she'd slow down to a walk until I was about to pass her, and then she took off in a full sprint, it was like a game, and made it difficult to keep in mind that it wasn't about the other runners. I jumped out of the gates a little faster than I would have liked, but ultimately I just had to slow down to a walk a few very short times to catch my breath a little bit. I unofficially timed my race at 35 minutes and 30 seconds so I was running at about 5 mph, which is a wonderful pace for me.

I think I'll sign up for another 5K here in the Georgetown area in February, the Cupid Chase around Valentine's Day. And my next goal after that would be to run in the Statesman Capitol 10K in April. A 10K is a totally different beast so starting in the new year I think I'm really going to have to beef up my training regimen.

Life is great right now, and it's wonderful to say that I am a runner.