State College YMCA 5K

Amy here. I think Matt might need to add me to the blog to be a poster. Anyhoo, the bottom line is: all three family members ran the 5K today and all finished. A teeny, tiny accomplishment compared to all that appears on this amazing blog, but an accomplishment nonetheless.

It was incredibly humid this morning but the rain held off until the afternoon. Even though he has done two Olympic tris, this was Shawn's first actual 5K as well, so we were all in this together. Er, ahem, that is, until about 2 seconds after the word GO. At that point, I was immediately dusted by a giant herd of people and tried hard not to get in anybody's way. But, I kept running, knowing that this was the downhill part and I may as well give it some juice straightaway. Let's call that a "rookie mistake" as that nearly did me in, lead-pipe legs ensued pretty quickly after the turn to the uphill. Things started to turn pretty desolate around the 1.5 mile mark, couldn't see a soul ahead of me, tumbleweeds whipping around my ankles, etc. The good news: the first mile was 11 mins and change (forgot to look right at the mile marker) but that is where the good news ends. Had to walk a good deal but ultimately finished with a sad, pathetic personal best for the course: 43:17. The best news, I was not dead last!

The race director is running this class we took to prepare for this race again, through October and November, culminating in another 5K around Thanksgiving time. I'm in for that one, as well. Last New Year's Eve my goal was to run in the NYEve 2008 into 09 5K, so it's nice to know that goal has been bumped up by a few months. I look for that to be the third race we do, which is kinda cool.