Ok - so I know it has been FOREVER since I've entered a race (or even jogged around the neighborhood, or to the mailbox, or to the kitchen...), but this month, I entered two.
The first race was the Be Well Utah Virtual Walk, Run, & Roll, a "pick-your-level, pick-your-challenge, free, family-friendly event" sponsored by the University of Utah. Participants could choose to walk a mile; run a 5K, 10K, or half marathon; or bike a 1-mile, 5-mile, 10-mile, or 50-mile self-selected course. I signed Oliver and Scott up for their own races, and I signed myself up for the 5K. I mean, how hard could it it be?
Well, the answer to that question is "pretty hard!" I put on my free Be Well Utah shirt, running capris (that I've used exclusively for lounging and sleeping over the past few years), and bright pink Brooks Launch and headed up to campus to run.
My first mile I ran/jogged the whole thing at an 11:45 pace. I felt pretty good about that. I mean, I know that isn't fast or anything, but it was nice to know that I could still run a mile if I needed to and that I wasn't starting from scratch (when I couldn't run more than 60 steps without walking).
My second and third miles were hard, though. I had to walk a bit - and then a lot. My second mile was a 14:03 mile, and my third a rough 16:45. My average pace, then, was 13:58, and my finishing time was 43:20.
I can't help but feel kind of bad about my results even though I didn't train for even a second before starting it. Back in 2009, I ran my first 5K after only three days of training and finished in 37:49, 5.5 minutes faster than I ran yesterday. I'm eleven years older and more than eleven pounds heavier now, and I guess that showed up in my time.
