Well. It’s over. My first official road race, my first 5K. My goal was to run it in 36 minutes or less. I finished in 33:41.5. For my age group (men, 35-39–I turn 40 in two days–so I am at the back end of that group) was 14 out of 21 and overall, I was 186 out of roughly 350 who ran (not including walkers). The overall winner of the race for men ran in 17:51, the overall women’s winner ran in 21:33. This was a very hilly course. I have never trained for hills. Living in Louisiana, hills to us are speed bumps! Plus I am dealing with a major sinus blowout right now. So running with only one-half of one nostril working and with a cough hurt me. Plus it was about 33 degrees at start with a pretty strong wind of around 15-20 MPH!
I am very proud of my finish. I now understand what people have told me about races. For those of us racing our own personal clocks and just wanting to finish, the culture of the race is addictive. The community of racers, the sense of accomplishment, the feeling that I have done something meaningful draws me to more races and this community of racers.
This Running Life 