Idlewild 5K...Sunday May 23rd

Shall we register for the Idlewild Sunday o' Fun? We dooz it for shizzle?

A first 5K...my first one is pretty embarrassing :) It was the Mariemont 5K, which funny enough, is also this time of year - the 30th. Here's where the flashback music starts and the screen starts to get wavy...I was a freshman in college and had been running a little bit around campus. Prior to that my running during high school was just down to the end of the road and back, and then maybe down to the other end of the road and back, which would have been 2 miles. I don't think I knew how far I was running at UC. I didn't have a GPS and didn't run on a treadmill. I would just go out and run a little. I usually did the nasty campus block, which in some ways was good training because it was so hilly. But it probably is just a mile and half or something.

Anyway, I drove out to Mariemont by myself and lined up at the start line for the race. It was a small 5K (maybe not as small as Idlewild will be though!) There was a gun and then we were off. I ran. Hard. It was a race, so I thought that meant I just ran as fast as I possibly could and magically my body would do it. I had no idea what I was doing. I had never ran hard before, never thought about "pace". I pooped out pretty early, shocked at how much I couldn't breathe or keep going. I think I had to walk at one point! I remember feeling pretty stupid. The finish was on a track at a school, and I am sure I was pretty close to last since there were so few people. It was very anti-climatic. If I remember correctly, I stood around for a bit and then got back in my car and left.

After that I started figuring out that I had to pay more attention to running and actually be consistent and train. I don't remember what my next 5K was for some reason - I think there was a long gap in time. Mariemont was memorable though. It is funny to look back on something about running and see how clueless I was, especially now after I've done a marathon.