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This weekend was a long one, but it was good. I ran my second event of the year on Saturday - the Habitat House 5k at Wofford College. It was a small event, consisting of maybe 50 total runners (and one dog) - a stark contrast to the Reedy River 10k Run I have coming up in less than two weeks where hundreds, if not a thousand or more, runners will clog the streets of downtown Greenville. Still, a 5k is a 5k, and this one wasn't exactly a walk in the park.

I have to admit that I wasn't as prepared for this event as I should have been, I haphazardly, unintentionally took last week off from training because I felt weak and sick for many days. (I blame it on being female.) I ran 3 miles on Monday, then didn't exercise again until the 5k itself. Fortunately, my body was able to adapt and push through it; but it didn't do so easily. I'm still paying the price for a week of slacking off in the form of sore legs.

For the record, I wish they wouldn't start a race by saying "On your mark; Get set; GO!" because it triggers some unstoppable adrenaline gush inside that completely nullifies all logic and reason within me and causes me to sprint from the start line to try keeping up with the front of the pack instead of remembering that - at least for me - it is an endurance race and not a 50-yard dash. Obviously, as I am taking the time to write about it, this is what I did on Saturday. They yelled "GO!" and I went! My sprint lasted for approximately two minutes before I realized what I had done. I began wondering why my legs were getting tired so quickly, and, when I figured it out, I slowed way down. The next 30 minutes probably would have been easily bearable if there hadn't been so many hills. It seemed like every corner we turned provided either an uphill or a downhill. Descents are a lot of fun on a bicycle - you just hold on for the ride and let the wheels do all the work. It's not as much fun on your feet. If you don't try to control your speed and body position, you could go sprawling on your face. (I've actually done that sort of thing on a bike before. It's not as fun as it sounds.)

Long story short, I finished the run despite being undertrained for the week and having to tackle many hills. It's hard to say how my timing was because I believe their timer was wrong, and I forgot to set my own stopwatch. I'm going to guess, though, that I ran just over a 10 minute mile. That's decent enough for me, especially with so many hills. I'm sure my average will be much lower for the 10k, but I'm okay with that too, since my goals for that race are to (hopefully) not stop running, and to make it to the finish line in one piece.

I did not do this race alone. My gallant husband, Frac, and fearless friend, Crystal, ran it with me. Frac even ran an extra few tenths of a mile to Krispy Kreme because there wasn't an aide yet stationed at Wofford's entrance to direct the runners the correct way. (He still beat me by several minutes.) My faithful mom was also there to take pictures, along with my mostly-precious nephew, Zeke. I think events like this are always more fun when you bring an entourage of people to enjoy it with you and support you.

I wanted to write about the rest of my weekend, including my new bicycle, but this entry seems long enough on its own. I guess it will have to wait 'til next time...