Love The Run You're With 5K: throwback race report

New Year's Eve 2009 brought the first time I had run any distance since November 4th.  I had been jumping through hoops with a multitude of doctors in those two months, all who told me to stay off my right foot with the weird pain.  I had a couple of cortisone injections and a bunch of x-rays, but finally had been cleared to run.  After the NYE race, I began running just a little bit, on the treadmill at the gym where my boyfriend had purchased us gym memberships for Christmas.  By the time February rolled around, I was running at least two and sometimes even three times a week.

I signed up for the 5K.  My boyfriend had been running pretty regularly for a while now and he signed up as well, his first race.  The original date for the race was Sunday, February 14, but the race was postponed after a huge snowstorm hit the DC area.

I was actually pretty glad to have another couple weeks of runs under my belt and even got in a long run of 5.5 miles one week before the race.  I was ready.  I also managed to convince my good friend and new running buddy Rudi to sign up.  I After huddling in the Starbucks for a while pre-race, we lined up and went.  Rudi and I started together and the poet started a little bit further back.

I remember so clearly being thrilled to be in a giant pack of so many runners.  The first song on my 35-minute playlist was the Ke$ha song about brushing your teeth with a bottle of Jack, and I was singing the lyrics out loud to Rudi (standard) as we turned the corner and headed up the huge hill.  My only real goal for the race was to run the entire time.  I had forgotten my Garmin (Forerunner 50, no GPS) at home so I just tried to stay extra steady on the hills.  Somewhere after the 2-mile marker, Rudi took a quick break to grab some water and I just kept going.  I couldn't believe how far away the 3-mile marker was, but I enjoyed running back down the hill and around into the finish.  34:14 was my final time.

Rudi and the poet weren't far behind me.  We took some post-race pictures in the parking lot and celebrated. 

Someone taught us (probably a blogger) that crossing your legs makes your thighs look thinner.

The poet decided that since he had run a race, he would buy real running shoes and stop running in the ones he bought at Target.  So we went to Pacers, stopping at the house first to let our little puppy outside.

He was pretty proud of us.