Completed W7 D3 the other day

I hope I am not biting off more than I can chew.

I have not completed the 9 Week From C25K and I am going to try to do the 5K Turkey race.

Considering my age (66) and my turtle running speed, I hope I can finish and be on time for Thanksgiving.

Karen, hope that it stops raining..Glad that you resolved your kids situation.

Good luck to all who are racing tomorrow.

I just wanted to wish all of the 5K folks good luck tomorrow, and happy Thanksgiving!!

Karen - I hope the day is clear and beautiful.

Jess - Have fun in Dana Point.  I will think about you when I drive by tonight.

Aprillilly - Don't worry about your speed.  You will do great.  When I did my 5K a few weeks ago, I walked plenty, and I still did just fine.  There were plenty of people who were walking behind me and finished well after me.  Just remember to go your own speed, and walk when you need to.  You will do great.  Have fun!

Libby - go for it!  You will do great, and will have lots of fun.

I know there are others running tomorrow, and I wish you all the best.  I know you will do great.  I can't wait to hear all the details afterward.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Kendra

well- I hope everyone is out having a great first 5K race

weather here is glorious,spectacular-just over the top fantastic-40's,bright blue skies and wonderfull sunshine.

no racing today for me- but I did my w8d3 run------- I ran a local 5k cross country course. I have attended many races there- but never ran one on the course- it has a rather brutal,long,long,steep hill-getting up ,over and down the hill takes up roughly the middle third of the race.

i would say-today was the only time I was not totally confident I could not do the prescribed workout- i would say I was 90% confident. I have run the course before- but never with this amount of prep.

so- iplanned to start out slow,gut out the hill and try for a negative split and up tempo the last 3rd of the course

knowing what was ahead of me- it was pretty easy to start out slow-and when I reached the hill,I just shortened up my stride and chugged up to the top.

i figured- the only way I could lose- is if I stopped running and walked-so I just refused to let my self stop- i DID slow down-and I DID take some short diagonal tracks back and forth across the path to flatten out the grade within the confiones of the path- but mostly I just slowed down and powered up the hill

nice slow run down the hill-totally got my wind back-and then picked it up for the pace of the last mile back to the finish.

2 days rest- and then I am going to do an even tougher course on sunday- i have seen literally hu8ndreds of races on sundays course-so I know it quite well. I have always wanted to be the sort of person that could RUN these courses- even if I can't race them!.

in the spirit of thanksgiving- I will tell you what I am greatfull for today.

My wife of 25 years and I have a nice house with great neighbors and a fire burning in the fireplace- my 2 college boy sons-are home from school- one of them brought a girlfriend-and we also have 2 other friends of my sons staying here this weekend( one of them is like a son to us- he lives here with us when he is not at aschool-gets Xmas presents here- goes on vacation with us etc.-he IS family)- my sister in law and her husband will be here for dinner-also another sister in law---close as i can figure it- we will have 10 people here under my roof for dinner---ALL of them are much smarter than me ( I am just a dumb roofer/carpenter
)- not counting the college kids- I will have 4 BA.s,2 masters degrees and a PHD at dinner-plus at least 2 of the kids are going on to grad school

sooooo- mostly my plan is to keep my mouth shut and pass the wine. Very mediocre year for business- and I am just greatfull to have kept up the college tuition checks and to be able to provide for those under my roof.--- although EVRYONE at the table is smarter than me- I take  some pleasure in knowing that while they were ALL still sleeping- I was up, walked my labradors twice, made and ate buckwheat pancakes for breakfast-and  ran my 5K!!!!!!- including a monster hill!-sons girlfriend is making pies with my wife right now-which has me feeling all warm and fuzzy-gonna go bring in some more firewood

hope everyone has a grand holiday!!!!!!!

my very best wishes to everyone with their runs today

stephen

Well, I did the 8k, and I'm back home now, much worse for the wear.

That is a LONG race, and I definiitely wasn't quite prepared for it.  I finished in approximately 57:15 (over almost exactly 5 miles).  It really underscored how much more training I really need to do.

I hope everyone else who did 5K's today had a wonderful time!  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

5 k complete!!!   I did it!   I am done with C25k and now training for a 10K!   Here is my race report.    By the time my race started at 8:30 it was a warm and sunny day here in California.  Hot enough where I appreciated when I found a shady spot on the course.   My kids ran the 10K before my race started so I got to cheer them on.. see them run past the half way point and cross the finish line!   I felt just a little nervous as I've been sharing with them thru out my training how hard I've worked.  I didn't want to go out and "bomb".   I wanted to do well for myself and them.   

The race started and I felt very good at the beginning.  I think because I'd been walking some, up on my feet watching the kids race and feeling  warmed up.   I tried to be mindful of running "my" pace.  It is really hard not to just run along with the pace of the crowd.  Well when the one mile marker came up my stop watch said 9 minutes!!   I have never ran faster than a 10:30 in practice.   It turned out that everyone says the race had that one mile marker too early!!   But because I thought I just ran a 9 minute mile I really tried to slow my pace.  I was working hard and didn't want to burn out.   It seemed like FOREVER and no mile two sign.   When it finally came up it was really wacky.. my clock  was at 23  minutes.. That would mean I ran one mile in 9 minutes and the second mile in 14  minutes.   I was running steady and knew I wasn't running any slower than my usual  11 ish  minute mile!  After seeing mile two I really focused on it being my last lap on my practice runs.  I knew the end was near and I was still running steady.  Mile 3 seemed to come up very quickly since mile 2 took so long.      What is really neat is that my 24 year old son said that when he saw me coming towards the finish line he was thinking,  "Wow, she is really moving!!"   He said,  "Mom you were too fast for me to even get a picture.  I had no idea you could run that fast!!"  I could tell he was really surprised and not just saying that.  SO... my time was 32 minutes 25 seconds!!   I've been averaging about 34-36  minutes in my 3 mile practice runs.  I am thrilled with the finish time.  I feel that I can potentially get under 30 minutes in the future.  Not bad for a 53  year old woman I don't think!    Now remember I ran/walked the Disney half marathon at the end of September before doing C25k.  My 5K split  time two months ago was 42:59 so after training I took almost 10:30 off my time!!   All my hard work paid off!!   I think had that one mile marker not been misplaced at the beginning I may have done a little bit better time as I wouldn't have forced myself to slow down  after mile one marker.    I had fun.. I loved having my son and daughter there to watch me finish strong.  The turkey is in the oven...  life is great!

Stephen.. I know you are a smart man because you are counting your blessings on this day of Thanksgiving.  You list your wife and family first.  Smart man.  Congrats on 25 years of marriage.. I've been blessed that way too.  My husband and I have been married 26 years and have 3 wonderful young adult children.  Great job on your cross country run.  Being a hiker I can truly appreciate manuevering up and down the hills.  I am looking forward to doing more trail running as well.

Drink up..good luck on your 30 minute run!  Funny what you said about getting up at 2:40 for black Friday.  You'll be getting up about when I get into bed.  Unfortunately I have to work at Disney 5:45 till 2 am tonight.  So no black Friday for me this year!   With my kids being older I really don't have big shopping needs this year.  I have got up plenty early in years past when I have things in mind to buy.  Wear your running shoes my friend!

Pearson.. yeah 8 K!   You are one race better as far as experience and learning what it takes.   Besides you got a great work out in!!   My kids that ran the 10 K were funny.  They both told me that a couple miles in to their race they were both wishing they had signed up for 5k instead.  They did well though.  My son is training for a March marathon so this was good work up for him.

Kendra.. don't we have a beautiful day here in SO CAL?   I hope you enjoy it to the fullest.

Looking forward to others race reports!

Jess

Jess, you did a great job. Wow!!!

My 10 y/o and I finished our first 5K this morning. It's a good thing that my husband is a planner. He helped me to figure out what time to wake up and what time we ought to leave the house. I'm not good at that. I hardly slept during the night and I had a ridiculous dream. In my dream I was interviewing for a job as a nurse for cats and dogs who would receive hyperbaric oxygen therapy. The interviewer crouched behind a chair as she interviewed me across the room. She just peeked at me every now and then. Ha ha. I explained to her that I thought I was applying for a job taking care of humans and not animals. I told her I was not a dog.person.at.all. and that I loved cats but was allergic to them.
Upon awakening.I had my usual pre-run cup of green tea and drank 2 glasses of water.
When we made it to the race site I realized I forgot my inhaler. I switched from the passenger's seat to the driver's seat and sped back home. My husband doesn't like to drive when we're late. Note to self:The night before a race I must put my inhaler in the van. That way I can't leave it.
We warmed up by walking for five minutes and running for ten. We walked to the back of all the runners and did our penguin run.
After 38 minutes I looked at my watch and decided that I felt bad and since I had never ever ran for 38 minutes I ought to stop running. So I walked for approximately five minutes. Then I told Jimmy is was time for us to run again. We saw the finish line in sight so then we sprinted to the finish. It's a good thing we sprinted or else we would have lengthened our time even more.
I'm a little disappointed in our time but I must realize that I haven't completed the Couch 25K program yet. I still have two weeks left and I'd only been covering two miles in 25 minutes at home.
We have our eyes on a race in January and we hope for a better time then. Until such time we will be content with today's time of 43:16.
We have no photos of our crossing the finish line. My husband thought the battery was dead on the camera. The truth is that he had the camera set on playback instead of point and shoot. :-/
We had a great time! My ten y/o and I both ended up with the same exact time.
The highlight of the race was the man who sped past us in his wheelchair. Boy was he fast!

Congratulations 5k runners!  You guys are awesome!!

Jess -  Wow incredible time!  You should be so proud of yourself.  You were so fast on your run.  Especially with the warm weather today.   I am so glad your kids could celebrate with you!!

Libby -  You did it!  Great job!  I know what you mean about the sun.  I actually went out and bought a visor last night just because I was running during the day today.  Strange how changing just one little thing changes the way you do things.  Be proud that you got out there and did it.

Karen - WooHoo!!  You did great.  It is so funny that you got almost exactly the same time as I did on my 5k (1 second faster).  It is great that your 10 year old did it with you.  You should feel so proud of yourself that you did it and did it well.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Kendra