My First 5k - 3rd Place in AG!!

I did my first official 5k this morning (the Jingle Bell 5k).  Many of our cycling club members have done it in the past, and they've represented our club very well by their finishes.  Problem is that many of them have been running for years, and I'm just wrapping up my first year of real running.  Anyway, there's pics on our club website from previous years of our club members holding their 1st, 2nd and 3rd place AG bells after the race.  As the race grew closer, I realized that I REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted to get a bell!!

I'm proud to say I finished with a time of 22:57, finished 26th overall and got 3rd place in my age group (30-34)!!!  I got a bell!!

The race started and I went out way too fast.  My 305 was telling me I was pushing a 7:06 pace.  I told myself to slow down or I'd burn out.  (My best pace so far was a 7:59 over 2 miles!!)  So I slowed down to a comfortable pace, checked my watch and saw I was now at a 7:12.  Not much better, but I was feeling good.  I kept pushing for the first 1.5 miles as it went gradually uphill, and I figured I could relax on the return trip to the finish.

At about 2.4 miles, I had to walk for a couple seconds and figure out what was going on with my shoulder.  It was VERY sore.  As I shook it out, I realized that I was clenching my right hand into a tight fist.  Yeah... that'll do it.  I loosened my hand and finished strong.

My overall pace was 7:22, and I'm pretty darn proud of how I did.

I'm also very proud of my wife.  It was also her first 5k, and she hasn't had time to train like she wants.  She's in grad school, and her research leaves little time for anything else.  Still, she went out there and ran the entire race without walking (which was a major goal).  She may not have gotten a bell, but she ran her race and I'm proud of her!!

BONUS - I won a nice duffel bag as a door prize!  Since my wife just got me a transition bag for my birthday, SHE now has a nice duffel bag for her gear! 

-Joel