Moon Mania: Very First 5k

Before the race at the Huntsville Botanical Gardens Bow Wow Bash 5K

Saturday I ran my very first 5k race in Huntsville. Lucky for me there were some familiar amongst the runners as some Dealnews employees joined me to do the race. It was such a cold day and I wasn't really prepared for the freezing weather and snowflakes. In hindsight I would have taken some gloves because my hands were frozen and numb by the end of the run.

When the run started it was very interesting how running with a crowd at the start. This was a small-ish race probably 200-250 people total so the start of the race was not too bad but pretty soon I found a good pace and was toward the middle of the pack of runners and it wasn't too crowded there so I felt good in that spot.

The first lap was the longer lap than the next 2. My first time was 10 minutes something but it was longer than a mile and when I first saw the clock I was thinking Oh No I have a 10 minute mile till I remembered it was the longer course that lap. I did well with the hills and was able to pass people while going up hill each time. That is where my bootcamp training came in handy. It was nice to see Brian on the sideline as I passed by each lap, on mile 2 he moved spots so I never saw him but there were a lot of people standing around so it was hard to tell as ran by.

At the end of mile 2 the emotions kinda hit me I was really doing this and I was thinking about my journey to get to where I am now. I noticed the clock as I passed by was 19 minutes and some odd seconds. I felt good going into mile 3 knowing my time was on mark for where I wanted it to be. My hands were awful cold but I was happy I had toted my water bottle the whole time. The cold air was burning my throat and small sips along the way sure helped.

On mile 3 I passed one clock that said 23 minutes before I took on the uphill portion. I was happy and it gave me the extra drive to get this race over and hopefully under the 30 minute mark like I was aiming for. I was thrilled to cross the finish line with the time of 28.34. I was sweating and tired but felt great. I am really looking forward to the one next month. I think I am hooked and this is just another adventure on my journey.