I was so looking forward to today...not because it was Valentines Day, because I don't have a "hunny", and would just as soon skip over the day(I would be singing another song if it were otherwise!)...but getting to do my first race since the Turkey Trot 4-miler at Thanksgiving. And I was going to get to do it with everyone's favorite EP'er, Tatumsmom!

I had some nights this last week that I didn't sleep very well, so getting to bed by 10 last night and sleeping like a baby until 7 this morning was no problem for me, and I was glad to finally get a good night's rest before the 5k this morning. And I had done these before, so I didn't have the same apprehension Angela was having with this being her first race!  I got up, showered, ate me a whole wheat English Muffin with peanut butter a couple of hours before race time, and tried to decide how to layer...although we have had some really mild days the past week, a cold front had come through last night, and I could tell by the tree limbs swaying outside my bedroom window that it was going to be nippy!  I finally decided on a long sleeve thinner wicking top as my base, and then my Nike cold-weather mock turtleneck over that, with my  thin windbreaker vest to top it off.  Of course....long pants...can't see how some people were out in shorts!

As I pulled out of my complex and hit the highway headed toward the race, I realized out of all my preparation, I didn't throw my camera in my bag!  I could have turned around and gone back to get it, but I figured Tatumsmom was already freaking wondering whether I was going to show up since it was 30 minutes before the race, so I kept going.  Sure enough, Angela called as I was pulling into the parking lot of the Church Sponsoring the race to check on my progress.  That parking lot was already packed, so I had to drive out the back entrance to the church and park at a school across the street.  I found Angela, and got to meet her hubby JD, and her precious Tatum!  We wound up having to walk probably 1/4 mile or just a bit more to get to the start of our 5k...there was a 10k that started just a few minutes earlier and from a different spot.

Angela and I were walk/jogging this race, so we were trying to decide whether we were going to start out jogging, or walk and then jog.  Don't think we ever really made a decision before the horn sounded, but as the start signal sounded we decided to jog.  This was not a chip-timed race, so we were going to use my Garmin to keep track of our pace and progress.  I had my Garmin ready to click "Do Workout" when we crossed the start line, but I don't always remember after clicking "Do Workout" that I have to click again for the timer to actually start!  We had gone .04 miles(I thought it was longer, but as I stopped it at the end, we had gone 3.06 from the time I actually started the timer )before I realized that and started it!  The wind was blowing pretty briskly, and it was chilly!  We were passing in front of the church where JD and Tatum were standing with the camera, so I can't remember whether we were on a walk break, or jogging, but we decided we had to be running wherever there was a camera!

At about 1/2 mile in, I realized I either should have put some gum in my mouth to chew to keep my mouth moistened with saliva, or should have brought a water bottle, because between the wind and jogging, my mouth and throat already felt parched!  It seemed we were hitting all these little inclines, and then it seemed they got longer....not steep at all, but enough of a gradual long incline to get your heartrate up even more and give your hamstrings a workout!  I think we did pretty well deciding when we were going to run and when we were going to walk...I hope I didn't slow Angela down! 

Of course when you see that first mile marker, it feels like it's going to take forever to finish, but after a water stop, and walk/jogging through a few more inclines, it looked like we were finally past the "hills", and in the home stretch.  As we rounded the corner to finish the last 1/2 mile, we could see the fire truck marking the finish, so we jogged and then realized we still had a little loop before heading down the straight-a-way to the end, so we walked for a bit, but at .20 out, started running to have that run across the finish line!  As we rounded the corner toward the fire truck, there was the clock, and it read 42:00-something, and we stepped it up....they haven't posted the results yet, but as we came across the finish line, the clock read 43:34...my trial "personal 5k" on Thursday I did 43:38, so we finished 4 seconds quicker today than what I did on Thursday!  Based on the distance I had my Garmin going...minus the .04 mile that I didn't...we averaged a 13:58 pace for the distance!

They had pizza and other goodies afterwards in the church, but I needed the water more, so I just had a bottle of water, and just ate lunch later. I went later on this afternoon to Shelby Farms to do additional distance...I had done 9 miles last Saturday for my long distance, but wanted to follow the training schedule that the Country Music 1/2 provided more closely since I really didn't stick to the schedule like I should when training for my first 1/2, so I dropped my total mileage today...schedule said 6 miles, but besides my 3.1 this morning, I did an additional 4.25 at SF for 7.35 total.  When I started, I tried to jog, but my quads were really burning and said "NO".......so I walked the 4 miles as briskly as I could!

I had a great time getting to do the 5k with Angela and getting to meet her hubby and Tatum, and her friends!  We talked about some other 5k's that are coming up that we both may sign up for.  I think we both now have a base from which to work with our time today, and I know I will work on gradually increasing my speed, and increasing my distance running without stopping...like we talked about today...I don't know when I may ever be able to run an entire 5k without stopping, if ever...but the challenge comes in at least trying!

Hope everyone had a great V-day!  Enjoy the rest of the weekend...for me...a 3 day weekend!  Will be meeting up with the Memphis EP'ers Angela, Kristin, and Bethany on Monday for lunch, so that will be fun!