My first 5K

Today my 16-year-old daughter and I participated in the Make-a-Wish Foundation's Race for Wishes 5K in Irving, Texas. If you've been around the blog very long, you know that we did the C25K program last summer but never actually participated in a race. I've done walking 5Ks before, but this was the first year with running as the goal.

We've been training pretty hard for the last 3 weeks or so. Earlier this week we ran 3 miles in our neighborhood, so we felt we had a pretty good shot at running the whole thing. Here were my goals:

• Run the entire thing
• Do it in under 40 minutes
• Don't get hurt
• Don't die

This race had chip timers - I'd not had that before because I always signed up to walk. They're cool little straps you put on your shoe lace. That's how individuals can still get specific times even in large crowds; you have a "gun time" - start of race - and "chip time," which registers when YOU actually cross the starting/finish line. Along the route, they had digital signs posting cumulative time at the first two mile markers. These are based on gun time. I realized later that I hadn't taken that into consideration...

I finished the first mile right at 12 minutes, the 2nd mile was a bit over 25 minutes. It's pretty normal for me to slow down after the first mile. I thought I would be close to my 40-minute goal, but the 3rd mile is always slow for me. I might need to change my music for that last mile!

The kid had passed me right around mile 2. I stayed about six feet behind her - she generally keeps a more consistent pace than I do, so I was using her as a pace car. I could see the finish line just around the corner, and heard one of the cops watching traffic yell (in general, not specifically to me), "Sprint it!" I'd lost all track of time, but got around the corner and could see part of the timer: 3-:--. took two more steps and saw: 39:--. FINALLY the head that was blocking my view moved, just as the kid was crossing the line: 39:58. No way was I going to make it over in two seconds, but I tried! Clock said 40:02 as I went past.

About a minute later, when my brain started functioning enough to remember chip versus gun time, I realized I might have made it after all...so I had to wait until the official results were posted.

And my actual time? 39:45! Whooop!

Obviously I'm not setting any land speed records, but I don't care. Personal records work for me!

And then, the best part? THIS guy (girl?) was here, and they brought free sandwiches!

It was a lot of fun and I'm so glad we did it! Not sure what our next plan is, but there will definitely be more. Once I figure out my next goal time, we'll find one to do.