My First 5K

My shoes are wet, and wet shoes are heavy. They are covered in red clay. I don't know how that happened since I have been trying to stay on the road.

My socks are wet. Wet socks make a squishy sound when you walk.

Water is dripping (and sometimes pouring) off the brim of my baseball cap. The cap isn't keeping my hair dry--only keeping the rain out of my eyes.

My shirt and shorts are now matted to the form of my body; soaking wet. Water drips off the end of my shirt and hem of my shorts. Thank God I can't see myself!

Today I participated in my first 5K race. It coincided with the arrival of Tropical Storm Hanna (Go figure...I'm just lucky that way, ya know). Rain or shine, though, the race goes on. It was a 5K walk/5 mile run for the local CASA group. The registration fee was nominal and went to a good cause.

When registering you had to indicate whether you were participating in the 5-mile run or the 5K walk (5K = 3.1 miles). I chose the 5K walk, but had all intentions of running at least half of it. I have been walking/running about four to five miles per day (3-4 times per week), so walking 3.1 miles is not a problem for me. The challenge would have been to run as much of the course as possible. Unfortunately, the race organizers really emphasized that runners should be in the 5-mile race and walkers should be in the 5K, i.e., no runners in the 5K. I was a little disappointed about not being about to challenge myself with a run, but that disappointment quickly subsided as we started the course and walked .6 miles downhill. That would be the last downhill slope we would see; it would be the same slope we would travel to the finish line, uphill, in the rain (Did I mention the rain?). The remainder of the course seemed to be uphill, both ways. I know that's not possible, but just believe me on this one.

TS Hanna arrived around midnight last night. We had drizzle, rain, downpours, repeat. Most of the race we contended with a steady shower of rain. But, once you're wet, you're wet; and you're not going to get any "wetter" or "dryer."

On Friday I went to Blackwater Creek trails (which are awesome). I usually walk these trails or use the track at school to log 4-5 miles on the days that I walk. On Friday my goal was to time myself as I walked the trail to the 3.1 mile mark. The weather was perfect. The trail was dry, and my time was 48 minutes or basically a 16-minute mile. If you can walk a 15-minute mile, you are really walking fast; anything faster than that usually involves some jogging or running. I was content with the 16-minute mile time and only hoped to maintain that today in the "race atmosphere." What I didn't prepare for were the hills.

I knew that the hills were going to slow me down. And I've never walked (or ran) in the rain (on purpose). My goal today was just to do the best that I possibly could, compete with myself, and try to stay near the 48-minute finish that I had yesterday. Long story significantly shortened: I crossed the finish line at 46:20. It was fun. I will do it again, but first I want to dry off and take a nap.