My First 5K!

(Okay, so this wasn’t technically my first 5k.  I did a Color Run about a year and a half ago, but since I walked it, spent a bunch of extra time at the “color stations” and they don’t even keep time, it doesn’t really count. )

I ran my first 5k on Saturday, and it was so awesome that I decided to share my experience with you!  As far as time goes, all I can really say is that while my time was “awful” by most runners’ standards, for me, it was pretty good!  I finished in about 46 minutes, with an average pace of just below 15min/mile.  While my time wasn’t the best, the experience of running my first 5k was awesome!  Here are the highlights:

I kept a decent pace!

Life’s been a bit crazy lately, so I wasn’t really “training” for this race, and I haven’t run even remotely consistently since about May.  Since then, I’ve run/exercised only a few times a month at best.  When I first started running, I was between a 14-15 minute mile pace, even when running short distances less than a mile.  So be able to keep up that pace even over a 5k route was pretty exciting!

Everyone has to start somewhere!

I was strangely nervous before this race, despite the fact that I had no intention of trying to win and no “personal best” to try to beat.  Having never run a 5k before, I was anxious about whether or not to eat the morning of the race, and if so, how much.  I was self conscious about having never attached one of those shoe tag thingy’s to my shoes before and whether people would be able to see that I was struggling with putting it on.  Not only did I get all of those “firsts” out of the way for next time, but I also now have a time to beat for my next 5k!

We did both manage to get our shoe tags on eventually!

Motivation!

I feel like most people are motivated leading up to a 5k, 10k, etc. because they are trying to train to get ready for it.  Well, I really didn’t have the time to put into it, and wasn’t trying to beat a time, so I wasn’t really motivated to prepare for the race.  After the fact, however, was a completely different story!  Despite the fact that I was up fairly late Friday night and up early for Saturday’s race, I felt absolutely FANTASTIC on Saturday, even with a bit less caffeine than usual!  So fantastic in fact, that I decided to think about running in the mornings before work.  (For those of you who don’t know, I am NOT a morning person.)  So I stopped by my local running store last night and bought some reflective armband things so I don’t get hit by a car, and this morning I actually went for a 1 mile run!  It was even raining and I still did it!

So here is my advice to you:  if you have never run a 5k before, and you get the opportunity, do it!  Even if you have not trained or prepared, it will be worth it!  Go at a pace you are comfortable with, you are still faster than the people on the couch!