Ode to Running and the 5K

About 7 months ago, I started running races. I didn't realize how much passion I would have for it. It's kinda crazy to think about life without it!

It started out as a dream. Three years ago, I started thinking about running, although I couldn't run at all. It just seemed like it would be fun and graceful, like a bird gliding in the breeze. When I told people about my dream to run, some people said, "that's cool" and some just laughed at me like I was nuts. One person actually told me, "You will never be able to do that." It didn't help at the time, but it's always been a driving force behind me going further.

And so today, I waited for the gun, thinking about how many of my dreams have come true in the past 7 months and how many are left. Today was graduation day.

You really helped me, 5K, discover my potential. But now, it's time to move to bigger races, to bigger dreams, to bigger obstacles. Don't worry....I'll visit you from time to time as my training progresses....

Now, for the fun stuff...my results:
Since the Gate River Run 5K, I have improved my time by 3 minutes. I ran this race today without stopping. I kept repeating: "slow, but steady wins the race."

At the first mile, I had to blink my eyes several times to make sure I wasn't dreaming: 11:20!! Second mile was 11:50 and third mile I think was in the 13 minute range (need to work more on keeping a consistent pace!). Overall, I finished the race in 36:41, my pace being 11:50. Woohoo in the 11-minute range! :-)

It was a beautiful morning to run...even got a suprise on my windshield--Florida snow! (ash from a wildfire!) I did a pretty good job on picking a target to follow--Thank you guy in the yellow shirt and green shorts...and thank you for letting me pass you the last mile...it was fun while it lasted!

What's next? I'm contemplating doing the Never Quit Beach Fest 5K in a few weeks, because I want to run on the beach so bad! I will probably do a 5K every few months or so. But my main focus is now the monster half marathon!

Thanks for reading! :-)