New Year's Day 5K

I started the year off with a great 5K. It was at the same place as the 9K I did through the woods last month and I expected this would be a cross country run as well. I was pleasantly surprised to learn it was a road race. I don't mind running on trails through the woods and in fact I'll be doing it again this Saturday, but I love road races.

Here's my lovely race photo:

And one of me and my cutie after the race!

I finished in 34:28, which I'm happy with! Definitely not my fastest, but finishing a 5K in under 35 minutes is awesome. I've decided not to worry too much about my time this year. I have so many races coming up and my only goal is to go out, have fun, and finish them in one piece. And maybe I'll PR. Maybe not. All that matters is that I'm out there doing it and having a good time.

Last night I ran 5 miles with a group of women who meets every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday to run. Sidney wasn't working and I knew I needed a weekday run (both physically and mentally!). It was supposed to be an easy run and even though I stayed in the back with another runner, I was hurting. The most I'd run in over a month was 4 miles. 5 sounded great and definitely doable. It wasn't great while I was doing it. I ran faster than I would have if I had been by myself. And afterwards I felt amazing. I was so glad I had pushed and finished the entire 5 miles, even though there were times I wanted to quit. Hopefully I can run with them more often!

It always amazes me how quickly you can build up endurance and how quickly you can lose it. I ran 13.1 miles without stopping on November 19th and now I'm struggling to run 5. It just gives me more motivation to keep going out and getting in the miles.

So far I've run a little over 12 miles this month. Last January I only ran 6.3 miles total. And last February? I ran 0. My goal is to run more every month this year compared to the same month last year. I'm on my way to 500!