Race for the Cure

George and I had a great time running in the Susan G. Komen North Florida Race for the Cure 5K this past Saturday. The weather in the area had stayed hot and muggy up until a few days before the race. So we were greeted by some chilly weather as we headed downtown Saturday morning.

Unfortunately, I have yet to invest in appropriate cold weather running attire. I don't have any long running pants or long sleeve running shirts. So I went ahead and wore a pair of my shorts, my 26.2 with Donna tank and a hoodie. I was hoping to be able to take the hoodie off once we got there, but it was still way too cold for me!

So I ended up wearing my jacket when the race started. The gun went off and those of us in the timed race ran under a big pink arch. (Which, only moments before the race was set to begin, fell over...but the race organizers quickly got it back up!)

My legs were still feeling pretty cold as the race began but fortunately as it was my first timed 5K, there were enough other things to distract me! I was able to keep a pretty steady pace and warmed up enough to take my jacket off after the first mile. I did take a few walk breaks, but only about :15-:30 each.

The finish line tricked me a little bit...I thought I just had to run to the big pink arch again. So I started speeding up on my approach, but then realized I needed to go a little farther. I still felt like I had a strong finish. According to the official results, I finished in under 30 minutes, 29:59! I averaged 9:39 a mile, which is a good pace for me. Check out to the full results here http://www.1stplacesports.com/cure095kres.htm

George also did a great job, finishing more quickly than he expected and at a faster pace than past races.

Afterwards, we treated ourselves to brunch with some of our fellow runners at a new place in Springfield called Uptown Cafe. As George reminded me, Jeff Galloway says in his book that you should reward yourself after a race, so I had a mimosa!

On Sunday, I got to do some volunteer work to promote the marathon. I passed out information about running or volunteering at Gander Mountain on the northside by the airport. Although it was a little lonely at times because I was alone, I did get to tell some very nice shoppers about the race!