Candle Lighter's 5K Sept. 25, 2010

Let the games begin!

Okay, first things first. I feel compelled to let you all know that the Candle Lighter's 5K was my second 5K that I've ever participated in...EVER. The first was June 5, 2010 at the "Run the Rails" event in Sagnaw, TX.

All of the proceeds of this event went to support the Childhood Cancer Foundation of Greater Fort Worth, TX.

Once I received my runner's number and attached my chip to my shoe, a volunteer came up to me and asked me if I was a survivor or a supporter. I told the gentleman that I was a supporter. He thanked me and then handed me the blue glowstick that you can see wrapped around my arm. (I don't like necklaces, esp while running, so I secured it to my arm!) It worked out wonderfully while running! (Oh, I even secured the ignition key to my shoes so that I could be hands-free during the event!)

There were significant differences between the two races: morning vs. night; certified courses; people; temperature; training styles leading up to the race; etc.

This time around was exciting because I approached it all together differently. I was estatic that this race was at night because of cooler temperatures. Also, I'm an afternoon/early evening workout kind of gal so I knew that I'd be fully awake and ready to hit the course.

I also "trained" for this race whereas the previous was more so just run it and see what happens. I felt great throughout the entire race! I studied the course and I knew the turns even though I had never ran it before. That turned out to be a great move on my part (knowing the course) because I could feel where I was approaching the 2-2.5 mile mark. I knew I had to keep going for another mile. Funny thing is that the self-talk/motivation started to chime in at that point. I had to get my breathing under control and I had to tell myself to dig deeper! I kept thinking as I passed 2.5 miles that I only had one more mile left. "You can do it! Just keep running, don't give up!" All those things were replaying over and over in my head. I hadn't stopped at any point throughout the race up until then, why would I stop and walk now? So, I pushed forward.

I crossed the finish line strong! There were people of all ages infront of me and behind me. The volunteers took off my timing chip and I drank some water. Immediately, I saw on the timer 30:44:09. Now, I knew some seconds could be taken off because that was the gun time, not the exact time my chip crossed the starting line. So, I walked over to the tables and saw that I placed 9 out of 27 for females ages 25-29. My over all time was 30:33:06. My average mile was 9:45... not so bad. It could have been worse! The thing I was so fired up about was that I didn't walk, I didn't stop, and I actually shaved 6 minutes off my time since June! That's awesome! Again, I am new to running so these are awesome feats for me to have! I'm just so fired up!!!

I have another race on Sat. Oct. 2nd. This race is in the morning so conditions will be totally different than on the 25th. I am excited to see how much time I can shave off overall! I know that I need to incorporate longer runs into my training routine to make these short 3.2 miles seem like a piece of cake! Stand by...more to follow after Saturday's race.