3.1 in 35:17

Yesterday I ran my first 5K race, which is 3.1 miles. I ran it with my friend Amber, who works in my department. She is a former soccer player and used to run cross country. Needless to say, she ran ahead of me and finished in 28:22 and was waiting for me at the finish line. But that's ok. I'm an amateur runner and had never run more than two miles outside before so the fact that I finished is an accomplishment in itself. I ran it in 35:17, which is an average of 11:23 a mile, which isn't great. Normally, I run a mile in 10:30 so I was even slower than my usual pace, which is already pretty slow. When I was running I was thinking, "What have I done? Why am I doing this?" It was not easy. But when it was over, I felt great and I was thinking, "When can I do this again so I can do it better next time?"

I've already been looking at the St. Louis Track Club's Web site to see when the next race is. I'm looking at Oct. 18 or 19 and then there's another one Nov. 23. It's going to start getting cold though and I'm not willing to run in the freezing cold, so that might limit the number of races I can run until spring. But I can still run at the gym and if I run at an incline, it mimics running in a road race. So, fun! See, I am a runner!

****

This weekend I had to spend hours working on a paper for my Organizational Behavior class that I have been procrastinating on for weeks. It's due Wednesday so now it's panic time. I did make a decision this weekend about school, though. I dropped my class I was going to take in Fall 2 (late October through late December). I just can't do it during the holidays and with everything I have coming up the next couple months. I'm not saying I'm quitting forever - I might very well go back in January. But honestly, it's a huge relief to know I am two weeks away from not having to worry about school.