#runthehood 5k Race to Remember

Today I ran my first "race" since being diagnosed with that silly stress reaction. I haven't run in 8 weeks other than a couple 5 min test runs on the treadmill, so I wasn't expecting this 5k to be much to speak about. I just knew I wanted to run at least part of it & M was planning to run with me - his farthest run since January.
I got up at the butt crack of dawn to try & beat the heat & the kids's Memorial Day parade but it was already steamy. (The is the temp when we were done. It was 68 when we started & HUMID.)


Even with the heat it was a beautiful morning for a run.


I decided on 5 min walk / 3 min run intervals in honor of the 5/3 Riverbank Run 25k I had to DNS earlier this month. Sad to say, I was sucking wind at the end of each of those 3 minute intervals. Our 2nd run started at a 9:xx pace too & I couldn't keep up. I congratulated M for now being a better runner than me. I had a goal to finish in under 40 min (my 5k PR is 33:20 I think) and if we hadn't stopped to play with this little guy we might have made it.


He decided the middle of the trail with bikes zooming by was a good place to take a break from his flying lessons.


I ended up finishing in just under 41 min, which was around a 13:xx m/m pace. I should be happy with this since I had 5 running intervals for a total of 15 min, but for someone who considers herself a runner, an almost 41 min 5k is hard to take.
I snapped the obligatory bling picture & then headed to the showers.


This was a good effort for my first post-injury run (not counting last week's mud run since that was just pure fun).


The good news is that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel & before long I'll be running through this tunnel better than I did before.

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