my first post-baby 5k.

So I ran my first race post-baby last Saturday. I have mixed emotions about my performance. Pride and disappointment, mainly. It was fun though...so I guess I should focus on that.

The race took place here in our town. We have an annual weekend fest and the Old Canal Days race is one of the events. We've lived here for years but this was the first year we've participated in the race. The race is at Dellwood Park which is a huge woodsy area with LOTS of hills. So I knew it was going to be a tough one. The race wasn't chip-timed so I thought I'd just run it for fun. My husband was running it with me. So were my sister-in-law and niece and this was their very first 5K. My decision to run was another impulsive one!! The story of my life. :)

I'd registered for the race the day before and the race started at 8:00a with packet pick-up ending at 7:45. Matt's brother and our nephew were going to keep an eye on the boys while we ran. We got to the park at 7:40a and picked up our packets. Found our family and then got ready to run!

We headed to the back of the pack. My sister-in-law was convinced she'd be the last to cross the finish line so we were in no rush. The gun went off and away we went! I saw Matt for about a block and that was the last I saw of him. I set off at an easy pace next to the girls and was good there for awhile and then I felt good and stepped it up a bit. The course was SO hilly. I'm not good with hills. I'd much rather run on flat terrain so I knew that my time would be off. That and the fact I hadn't run in 2 weeks and also that this was the first time I'd attempted 3+ miles in over a year!!

But I was doing great until I came to the mother of all hills. This one was probably at a 45 degree angle up and was gravel. I ran up it slowly and it took so much wind out of me that I had to slow down and walk to recover for a bit. I walked 2 times total during the race. Then I saw the finish line and willed myself to start running again and finish strong. So I did- at 33:27. Oh well. I can only get better from here!!

finding the time.

I've been back running for about 3 weeks now and was pretty impressed with the way my body has responded endurance wise. I'm at a 10:20 mile! Considering I've topped out at a 9:20 minute mile, that's darn good. I can't keep that pace for more than a few miles, but it's a start. I can only improve my performance!!

I've decided to run another 5K on 6/20. This will be just a fun run. I don't think it's even timed. I hope my husband runs with me- and my niece and sister-in-law are thinking about it too! The rest of the summer I plan to run easy races and just enjoy myself. I've got all the time in the world to start seriously training again, plus finding the time to run with 2 kids is not easy!