I ran my first race since the marathon this Saturday morning. It was only a 5K, definitely not my favorite distance. I happened to be in Connecticut visiting my family and my old cross country coach pointed out that there was a 5K road race in Newtown, CT. Here was an opportunity to continue my healing process in the heart of another community that had experienced the unthinkable, and an opportunity to contribute in a tiny way to that community as well. It was exactly two months after Boston, and just over six months since Sandy Hook
So I arrived race morning and decided to see what kind of time I was capable of. I figured a good target was about 20-21 minutes. At just under 7 minutes per mile, this was just a tad faster than the half marathon pace I was running in March. My training has certainly been thrown off a bit since, but it's not like I was planning on setting any records or anything anyway
It was a relatively small race, with just over 500 entries. I finished with a time of 21:06, good enough for 23rd overall and 2nd in my age group. It's the first trophy I've earned in a long time, and definitely means just a bit more with it being my first race since Boston. They had run out of race shirts, but thankfully one of the race volunteers offered me hers. She also got a different colored version as a volunteer and didn't need the race shirt, so I got a race tee as well. It's a little thing, but a little thing that meant a lot
Next up the Fairfield Half Marathon this Sunday. It was 19 years ago here that I really became a runner. It was the first runners high I ever got, and the first time I actually enjoyed running - a pleasure that I hope to always have
So I arrived race morning and decided to see what kind of time I was capable of. I figured a good target was about 20-21 minutes. At just under 7 minutes per mile, this was just a tad faster than the half marathon pace I was running in March. My training has certainly been thrown off a bit since, but it's not like I was planning on setting any records or anything anyway
It was a relatively small race, with just over 500 entries. I finished with a time of 21:06, good enough for 23rd overall and 2nd in my age group. It's the first trophy I've earned in a long time, and definitely means just a bit more with it being my first race since Boston. They had run out of race shirts, but thankfully one of the race volunteers offered me hers. She also got a different colored version as a volunteer and didn't need the race shirt, so I got a race tee as well. It's a little thing, but a little thing that meant a lot
Next up the Fairfield Half Marathon this Sunday. It was 19 years ago here that I really became a runner. It was the first runners high I ever got, and the first time I actually enjoyed running - a pleasure that I hope to always have
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