24:58

I ran a 5K race this weekend in my home town. I originally agreed because a couple of my friends who shall remain nameless convinced me it would be fun if we all ran it together. When I realized it was the same weekend I was supposed to run a 5K test for the novice half marathon training program I've been on I felt like I pretty much had to. I sent in my 15 dollars and committed.

Weeks later I find out the neither of them is planning on running. They both have legitimate excuses, but that is not the point. Neither one of them told me before I registered. Like they forgot or something. Ooops.

The only friend who actually ran it is WAY faster than me and therefore we both ran in the race, but I only saw him at the starting/finish line. Doesn't count as running with. In the end, I ran the 5K all by myself. Which is fine. Whatever.

My goal was to be able to jog the entire thing in under 28 minutes. I said 30 at the starting line, but that was a lie. I timed myself before I started training for the half and made 3 miles in 28 minutes. That's 9:20 a mile. I wanted to run at least that fast despite the vague illness I'd had all week.

I was tired and cold and didn't warm up. Not exactly optimal, but I finished in 24:58. That's an average of 8:20 a mile. According to the time keeper at the one mile line, my first was more like 8:32. The second was more like 8:15, and the third in 8:11. I know, you're thinking, "but Amber, a 5K is 3.1 miles." It is, but I mapped it. The course was actually 2.97. You'll note that I got faster with each mile. That's what happens when you don't warm up.

Turns out I won my age category (females 18-39). I only won because the community college's cross country team couldn't officially register, but I did finish before one of their members. It kind of made me wonder how fast I could run it if I got serious and warmed up and ran a race pace.

In response, I ran four miles fast enough to make myself throw up yesterday. Today I didn't run and I'm eating peach bourbon ice cream. You have to have priorities.