Second 5K: Complete!

In my last entry, we discussed my slothlike running capabilities and my 16+ minute miles. You will imagine my surprise when, in the middle of my run, my Nike+ app spoke up and announced that I had completed a mile in just shy of 14 minutes.

As it turned out, my slowest mile in this 5K was 14:09.

I knew I was pushing myself because my face got hot way sooner than it usually does, but I still felt good otherwise so I didn’t try to back off. I had no idea it would improve my mile time that much!

Additionally, I ran the whole way! My final time was 47:08, which is about two minutes better than my first 5K.

I ended up with a small blister on the inside of my right foot, and toward the end of the race my left foot hurt when my toes were flexed (so, every step). But! The rest of me felt totally fine. Tired, but fine, and I bet I could have run for a tiny bit longer if my feet didn’t feel so awful.

It’s hard for me to describe how I felt when I realized I was nearing the last leg of the course and I still felt good enough to keep running. I started tearing up! Even as a competitive gymnast in high school I could never run this much or this far – I don’t think I’d ever actually run an entire mile before starting C25K. I’d always run the straightaways on the track and walk the corners.

I finished the race kind of in awe of myself and what my body can do – it was kind of weird having a moment by myself where I knew nobody. I sat on the grass, snuffling to myself while updating Twitter, and stretched my legs and watched the other runners finish.

This makes me really excited to sign up for another race – now that I know I can run the whole way, I can concentrate on improving my overall time and my individual mile times as well.

I wanted to say thank you to everybody who commented and tweeted at me before and after the race! I definitely thought about all of the messages while I was running and it helped keep me going. ♥

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