I did my first 5K tonight and I'm proud to say that I wasn't even close to last! Plus, I did the 5K in NINETY-FIVE degree heat. 95. Degrees. Holy shit.
Originally my plan was to run it, but I've been sidelined with issues related to the fact that my brain and my shins don't agree on what my physical goals should be. So I had to scale back my training and, especially given the scorching heat, I didn't want to push myself too hard, so I walked it. I set my goal pace at a 15 minute mile - not too hard, but I still had to work for it. I ended up finishing in 48:39, which is a 15:29 pace. I can live with that, but hopefully I can shave off those 30 seconds per mile in my next race by doing a run-walk combination.
(The bottom picture is me sprinting to the finish line in a desperate attempt to be done with the race in a time approaching 15 minutes. Mission accomplished, I guess.)
Admittedly I got lapped by more than one elderly person and I felt lazy. Getting lapped by an octogenarian is like seeing a pregnant woman who's skinnier than me - it sort of makes you reevaluate yourself in unpleasant ways...
