Well, today was the big day – my first 5K! If you haven’t been keeping up, be sure to read my previous posts leading up to this big day.
It was a gorgeous day for a run, even if it was early. 
I met Carrie and her brother Alex at 8am, then headed over to Great American Ballpark, the home of the Reds, for the Redlegs Run for Home 5K Race. We picked up our ChampionChip timing device then hung around for what seemed like forever. I was a bit nervous and incredibly anxious to get going. I didn’t want to sit around and think about it – if there were any hills on the course, if I could really run the whole thing, etc.
Finally, the race started and off we went, with over 2000 other runners and walkers. The start was just outside the ballpark, down by the river. The course followed the river for a while, then looped around the Bengals’ stadium, back to the river and then looped around GABP. The finish was inside the stadium, so we ran into the ballpark by the Reds’ bullpen, down the warning track and third base line and finished around third base.
Runner #3839 (that’s me) finished in an unofficial time of 31 minutes and 52 seconds. I think the official time will be closer to 31 minutes. I’ll let you know when the official results are available.
I had three goals coming into today: 1) Finish the race 2) finish in under 45 minutes and 3) run the entire distance. Two of those three goals were met. I did finish the race and finished well under 45 minutes. However, I wasn’t able to run the entire distance. I had to take three walking breaks, but the total walking time was only 3-4 minutes. Taking the walking time away from the total time leaves me right at the 27-28 minutes of running that I’ve accomplished in training. If I had started training sooner and been a more consistent with it, I might have made it. However, I did get caught up in the pace early on, running faster than I was used to, so that wore me out sooner than expected. I’m disappointed about that and not reaching this goal, but it still wasn’t too shabby considering how much I dislike running and that this was my first “big” run. Something that did surprise me along the way was that I reached the two mile mark in about 19 minutes. I had to stop for a walk prior to this, and the first mile was about 10 minutes, so I was really surprised that mile two was that quick. I was dying at the end though, really struggling and gasping for breath. I didn’t think I would make it without another walk, but I pushed on with encouragement from Carrie. I totally missed the grandour or running into the ballpark, since all I saw was the dirt of the warning track. If felt great to cross that finish line, though, and really good to get my breath back.
While my time wasn’t that fast, there was a new race record set for fastest time. Actually, three people finished below the previous mark, with the winner coming in at 14 minutes and 36 seconds. Carrie knew the mom of the fastest woman runner, who in turn was the girlfriend of the fastest guy who was friends with the second place men’s finisher, so I got to meet all three of them. They’ll be throwing out the first pitch at the Reds vs Cubs game this coming Thursday, for which we all got vouchers.
All in all, it was a success for me, though I’m a bit disappointed about the walking. Hopefully, I can keep up the running and be ready for another some day. I would like to do the Flying Pig 5K next May, since that’s the big race, really unique to Cincinnati with a huge turnout. I have 335 days to get ready for it, and I will run the entire distance!
I’m also thinking about doing a Sprint Distance Triathlon. That involves a 750m (about a half mile) swim, 20km (about 12.5 miles) of biking and finishes with 5km (3.1 miles) of running. I can do the biking with no problem (I typically do about 15-20 miles of biking a week), I’ve almost got the 5K down, so I would only need to work on the swimming portion. And doing the whole thing together! I don’t know if my legs could handle the run after the biking, so I would definitely need to work on that. This would be a ways down the road, though, but something to shoot for in the future.
Here’s a picture of Alex, Carrie and I after the race. See, I’m still standing! In fact, I was running around, full of energy, as we were leaving. (That was about 45 minutes after the race and after filling myself with water, bananas and a Clif bar, though). Thanks, Carrie, for running with me and the encouragement along the way!
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