I DID IT!

Today I ran my first 5K race. I did better than I thought I would do and it was a great experience. I had planned to go with one of my friends and we thought our husbands could bring the kids down to see us finish and then they could participate in the kids races. It turns out that she got a pinch in her neck! Our schedule filled up with gymnastics and birthday parties so Sam and the kids weren't able to come. I almost bailed out (and I was trying to decide if it was because I was getting scared or if it really had to do with the schedule) but I signed up anyway and I am so glad I did!

The race took place at Northwest Trek, which is a wilderness park with animals, etc... not far from Mt. Rainier. (About an hour drive South of where we live.) I left the house at 6:30am. I got to the registration area and was surprised by how many people were there. (Did I mention it was raining? Not the usual Washington mist, but real rain!) I received my bib number, t-shirt and counter chip, which you tie to your shoe. (I didn't know until this morning that the counters are used to calculate your time. In my mind I anticipated someone standing there with a stop watch!)

After I registered I saw an Occupational Therapist, Cara, that works in the same district as I, and she serves some of the preschool programs that I supervise. I went over to say Hi and I met her husband. This was their first race as well. I was glad to see someone that I knew, even though I only knew her through IEP meetings.

We got behind the starting line. The people doing the 8K were in the front, us 5Kers in the middle, and those doing the 5K walk in the very back. The horn blew and we were off. Well, for the first few steps it was more like a shuffle, but your time doesn't start until you cross the starting line. The serious runners were off! Cara and I seemed to keep the same running pace, which was great. We chatted a bit and I learned she has 4 kids, about the same ages as my own kids. We stayed together the whole race, not because either one of us felt obligated to, we just really were at the same level. We ran the first mile or so, then sped walked for a few minutes, then ran some more, then walked, etc...

My training was only done on a treadmill and I rarely pushed the incline button. I realized a few days ago that maybe I should have pushed it more because I had no idea what I was going to get into with this race, as I wasn't very familiar with the trail. (I had been to NW Trek once or twice before, but that was a long time ago!) There were a few hills, which actually didn't turn out to be all that bad. Going down the hills were a bit tricky as the road was wet. It ended up drizzling most of our run. It wasn't until the very end, as we crossed the finish line, that is started pouring again! (Thank heavens!)

Cara and I finished at the EXACT same moment. As we entered the last 100 yard area we ran as fast as we could. I don't know how we did it, but we both got the exact same time! It was great and I am so glad that I had someone to do the race with after all!

Here are my stats, taken from the NW Trek website:

Julie Hunt
bib number: 144
age: 31
gender: F
location: Federal Way, WA
overall place: 158 out of 269
division place: 32 out of 53
gender place: 93 out of 173
time: 39:42
pace: 12:49

Summary number of finishers: 269
number of females: 173
number of males: 96
average time: 39:16


Not too bad for my first race. My goal was just to finish but I was not off from the average time and I didn't even finish last! :) I really want to run another race, now that I have a baseline. The Sound To Narrows race is in June but I don't know if I want to wait that long. I think it would be great if Sam wanted to do it with me next time....we will have to wait and see. :)