Explore Your Limits 5k

Saturday was my first ever trail race.  Explore Your Limits 5k/10k are held at the Explore Park off of the Blue Ridge Parkway.  If it weren't for folks like Josh and Gina Gilbert, there would be very little going out there.  It is truly a shame too.  Today I chose to run the 5k.  This was my first competitive running race in probably 7 years or so.  I don't count the Drumstick Dash as it's more playtime.  Today would literally be the 4th time I'd ever really run on a trail.  Sure I'll hike or push a bike, but run?  Nope...  After battling with bad feet years ago, I had given up on running and turned to cycling.  I think that's going to change.  I really had a great time today.  Got to see part of Explore Park I'd never seen before and tested the waters of off-road running.  I had looked forward to this race for a while now, so I was a bit bummed with the prediction of rain.  I guess someone was looking out for us because other than a bit of sprinkles, it never rained while we were running!

The race itself has some very difficult portions and some not so difficult portions.  I probably went out too hard trying to keep up with a few friends, so I felt like I hit a wall shortly after the one mile marker.  I had to walk a bit especially on the hills, but managed to run fast enough to pass a few people on the flats.  The final hill of the race is absolute torture.  I ran a good bit of it, but probably walked half.  Once it tapered off, I ran then I ran as hard as a I could nearing the finish line.  I could hear several friends cheering me on (Read, Kenny and Josh).  I was really surprised to see 42 minutes on the clock.  This meant I had just run 5k in 32 minutes and some change (the 5k started with 10min on the clock).  Pretty good for me. I was excited about that as I had set a goal of between 35-40 minutes.  I also figured that I had no chance of placing in my age group since there were 11 people registered.  Well....  I did get 3rd, but only by 3 or 4 seconds!!!!  My friend and new teammate Kristin ran the 10k and finished strong!  Bob B. and his daughter also ran the 5k, and Ron did great in the 10k.  It was cool to have 4 teammates there today!

Data:  5k, 32:54, 3/11 (age group), 75/169 (overall)

Now on to Sunday's MTX finale...

And yes those are Cookie Monster boxershorts that I'm wearing!!!

ME WANT COOKIES!!!