This Race Blows 5K

Last weekend a wonderful family put on a 5K through our neighborhood in support of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. They are such a great family with a beautiful daughter who has CF and they put on an event of some sort every year to help raise money to help find a cure. Their story can be found here: http://www.islasinspiration.com/ . I can't say enough great things about their family and what they are doing.

I signed up for this race because I wanted to support them. I had no idea what running a 5K was going to be like 9 weeks after given birth. I've been running 3-4 times a week 3-4 miles at a time and just in the past week was finally feeling a bit better running wise. I had two goals for race day- One was to weigh in below 130lbs. And I weighed exactly 130, so I was close. (This still leaves me with 8 more pregnancy pounds to go, but I should be happy that I've lost 32 already).

My second goal was to run sub 27min. Typically I run around 9 min pace now and I had no idea what kind of "speed" I had in me at this point. And this 5K was super hilly. Started at the top of a hill, straight down and then up and the another hill or two and finally back to the start so finished on a steep uphill. Yikes...hence one of the reasons the race was called This Race Blows. I was running with a friend who also had a baby (4 months ago), and she was a runner in college. We've been trying to push eachother a little just to get back in shape. And we took the first mile out in 7:45. Wow, I didn't know I even had that in me. :)

I don't know splits for 2 or 3 miles, except that we were both pushing hard and running fast and it hurt. Especially the last hill to the finish. She out sprinted me (ahh those miler legs), but I can't complain, crossing the line in 24:45 (just under 8 min pace). I mush stay I am super thrilled with the time on such a hard course. I was 5th overall female in a small race, but still had lots of fun.

I've thought a lot about training for things, and have settled on trying to run some decent 5K's this year and throw in a couple sprint triathlons for fun. I have always wanted to break 22 minutes in a 5K and feel like with the time I have now, maybe this is the right time for it. We'll see.