Check it out, I ran a race! Every year I make New Year's resolutions and every year I pretty much give up on them by February. This year I was determined to stick to them. One of the resolutions this year was to complete the C25K training program and run in a 5k before my birthday. Even though I am quite thin I am not at all in shape - I have terrible aerobic endurance and I suffer from both exercise and allergy-induced asthma (and have since childhood). Though I am pretty active (dancing, hiking) these things do not equate to excellent cardio-vascular health. C25K seemed reasonable and achievable, and about halfway through the program I signed up for the 3rd Annual Benicia Education Foundation Run for Education. It's a fundraiser for a good cause, and fairly close to home (so I wouldn't have to wake up too early...), plus it was timed at just about the end of my C25K training and right before my birthday. Once I had paid that entry fee there was no going back. :)

I finished the "program" this past week (I missed a few weeks because of travel and other reasons) and ran my first race today. When I started just a few months ago I could not even run a mile without difficulty, and if you had said that in a few short weeks I would be running in a 5k (without stopping!) I would have called you a big liar :) Yet this morning I did just that! Though I am a pretty slow runner still, I managed just under a 10-minute-mile pace and ran the whole thing, hills and all, in about 30:40 (no official results yet). This was the first time I had run a full 5k as well - the farthest training run I had done to date was about 4.75k.

I must admit I am pretty proud. :) This was something completely new to me. It was something I did on my own (no family or friends trained with me, raced with me, or even came to the race). It was difficult! And I accomplished a goal I had set out for myself. This was the first race for me, but it certainly won't be the last. I've caught the bug, so you might have to endure the occasional running post on top of all the other randomness that appears on these pages. I think I have the next race all picked out...