it's been a good friday

The Foos, awesome! The numerous amarteau sours before the concert, delicious. The free beers in the suite during the concert, fantastic! The quest for a stinking hangover, unsuccessful, what can I say I have Irish blood, I'm hard core.

I did however, not get very much sleep, so there was still hope for the worst 5k ever.

Having enjoyed the climate controlled gym for 4 weeks, being outside was a bit of a culture shock. It was colder than I thought this morning, I completely under dressed. I showed up shivering in a pair of capris and a long sleeve shirt. Everyone else was sporting full winter gear, including headbands and jackets.

I have to admit that once I got to the start line, my cunning plan of running super slow and blowing the competition out of the water in the Shave Your 5k Challenge kinda disappeared. Damm you Vanilla! I suddenly wanted to run. I haven't wanted to run in over 4 weeks. Today surrounded by all the other runners, it all came back, that love of running.

About halfway through the first km, the love began to diminish. Holy crap, the elliptical and bike are not the same as running. Then I had half a km of up hill. Serious, I could taste my lungs. I kept thinking I've gone out to fast. I got to excited. Then as I passed the 1km marker I glanced at my watch expecting to see 3 mins maybe 3.10. Nope! My watch said 6.58.

WHAT.

Then I realized I had been spending the last 7 minutes worried about my pace, my lungs, my pounding heart. I hadn't been concentrating on my foot. My foot wasn't hurting. It was numb from the cold, but there wasn't any pain.

We were running down hill, so I decided to pick up the pace. I started to feel better, and found a comfortable grove. My second km was 5.35. I started passing people. I held that pace til the 4k mark, the last km was hard. I was determined not to stop. I was even more determined not to puke. My foot was throbbing a bit. Not painful, more in shock for the impact of the last 25 + minutes.

I crossed the line in 29.40!

Very happy with that. That's only 2 minutes slower that my 5k PB. So I may actually have to do some work to win the Shave Your 5k Challenge!

After the race we went for lunch, I do miss hanging with my running buddies. So far knock on wood, my foot feels good. It's tender but not sore. I'm going to have a rest day tomorrow and then try this running thing again on Sunday.

A very good friday!