FINISHING THE 5K

Last day of April break, and I'm packing as much fun as I can into today.  Before going to Maine to do some landscaping and stump removal (I actually consider this fun) around my niece's (and her fiance's) house, I am doing a 5k.

By "doing" a 5k, I mean "mostly walking."  Today I jog about a third of it, maybe a bit more.  I wish I could run it, but I'm a sprinter, not a miler.  I simply cannot train myself to keep the pace, but I'm a reasonably fast walker, so it all evens out.  I am doing this 5k solo today, so I have no one to pace but myself, anyway.

This 5k is called Run for the Troops, and it raises money to benefit different organizations that directly serve veterans.  The organizers purposefully designed the course to have the biggest and most critical hill near the end, after mile marker 2, and it is dubbed the town's own version of the Boston Marathon's Heartbreak Hill.

I am doing pretty well keeping pace.  I have my own water with me, and I'm alternating between walking quickly and jogging (until our local Heartbreak Hill - then I walk).  My only issues are that I haven't been training for this, and I am just coming off a week of being sick with a cold (and possibly a touch of the flu).  My stomach isn't happy with me, but I treat it to a muffin top and a banana when I finish the race.

As soon as I cross the finish line (jogging), an ambulance pulls up.  Not for me.  This in itself is a victory.  Turns out I am in the top 75 of people my age running, and I am just over the 1,000th female finisher.  I have no problem with that.  I mean, I paid the money and got the shirt, so, technically, I already made my contribution.  Any place I finish is fine with me because ... I FINISH THE RUN.

I have another 5k fundraiser coming up in two weeks, so maybe I'd better train a little bit more seriously, especially since I am sponsoring a team.  In the meantime, 5k behind me, time to go pull some stumps out of the ground in Maine (I love the challenge).  Then it's home to shower, iron some clothes, and watch a little television before heading back to the grind at work.