The pier in the above picture will be the starting point for Don's Friends 5K Run I plan to run in (God willing) on April 14. The run won't be on the beach; rather, it will start in the parking lot of the pier and follow along one main road near the beach as well as a couple of side roads. Either way, it is a beautiful place to run, and I can't wait. Yesterday morning (Tuesday), I went there to do a practice run. My original plan was to be there early, but I wound up not making it until 11:00am. I dropped off my daughter first at my brother's house not far from there. It was getting pretty warm by then, and a bit humid. This time I was prepared for the heat with a water bottle.
The water bottle helped (I didn't drink it, just used it to cool off), but only a little. It was one of my tougher runs. After only running about a mile, I had to stop to walk for a bit and recover, then run again. I was also interrupted three times by urgent phone calls related to a family matter, which forced me have to stop and walk each time. I had another challenge along the way as well, but I didn't let it get to me, I just told myself there will be challenges and you have to work through them. Challenges are good, they teach you to expect the unexpected, and not let them trip you up.
When I saw that I had about a mile left to go (based on the race map), I gritted my teeth and made myself run faster. Everything in me wanted to stop, but I made myself keep going. Drivers turning onto the side roads were very courteous to me and would stop to wait for me to run across before turning. Maybe because they saw the sweat pouring off of me and felt sorry for me. LOL.
I finished the 5K route in about 38 minutes. I say "about" because I was so happy to be at the finish line, that I completely forgot to look at the time. I looked at it not longer after that, however, so I estimated.
Not too bad, I guess, considering the challenges. My goal right now is to finish the 5K race on April 14 in 31 minutes flat. Maybe even 30 minutes if I'm at my very best that day. My hope is that I will continue to get stronger with my runs this week and at some point conquer that last six tenths of a mile or so and run 5K without stopping. I believe I can do it. Tomorrow morning will be my next run, which I'll probably do from home before my husband goes to work. It's too bad I live so far away from the race route, or I would be doing more practice runs there. Hopefully I'll be able to run it at least one more time before race day.
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