Today I ran my first 5K!  A 5K is 3.11 miles (and I think 5K sounds more impressive than 3.11 miles).  Actually, today I ran the whole way through my first voluntary 5K.  When I was in the military we would occasionally be forced to join the 5Ks on base to increase the runner count, but I never ran the whole way and never registered and wore a number.  Today I was number 150 (and yes, I will be saving the bib as evidence!).

My friend Jacque and I wore matching shamrock shirts and shamrock glasses, and during the run someone on the sideline called us the Shamrock Club.  Personally, I think the cute overload helped my motivation when I wanted to lay down and take a nap around mile 2.  Here we are with the Vicenza Lion.

Running has always been unnaturally hard for me, and running in front of other people gives me major performance anxiety.  I used to freak out when we had to run in formation in the military.  My heart rate would skyrocket and I would start breathing like I was running out of oxygen before we even started, so by the time I had run a couple paces in formation I thought I was dying.  Running in a crowd is only slightly less traumatic for me.  I was very nervous before this run and had a couple of moments when I was hoping something would happen so I wouldn’t have to run in front of 250 plus people.  I am so happy my fears did not get the better of me, because I am so happy now that I am done!

Running for 3.11 miles without stopping was a major personal accomplishment for me.  When I was in uniform we had to run 2 miles for our PT tests, so before today the longest I ever ran without stopping was, you guessed it, 2 miles.  I finished around 35 minutes 30 seconds, which works out to a little over 11 minutes per mile.  Not a great time but I am more than satisfied that I finished, and for my efforts I got a t-shirt!  Here is a picture of the finish line (with the clock on the left hand side), it is blurry because I was still running when took it.

I am so happy I sucked up my fears and actually ran in front of other people and I am looking forward to the next 5K.  Next time I am aiming to finish under 33 minutes.

On another note, my apricot tree is starting to bud, that means spring is around the corner!!