Goal achieved!

Earlier in the week, I set a "secret" goal to break 40min at the Komen Tyler 5k today... And I did! Well, really I crossed the line right at 39:59. I was flagging a bit at the end, but when I saw the clock (at 39:55) I knew I had to kick it into high gear. My only regret is that I didn't see the clock sooner, because I had a lot of life left in me.

Overall, I am beyond thrilled. The weather was perfect (for me, anyway... My husband hated it!) It was about 64, overcast and humid. I was somewhat concerned about the slickness of the brick streets along the course, but we kept our footing the whole way through. I saw a handful of folks I knew, mostly younger. Some ladies from our church took a picture of my husband and I, so I'll add that to this post when I get it via email.

We ended up exceeding the plan a bit, which resulted in a good first half but a lagging second. Here's the breakdown:

• Ran 10 min (hit mile marker at about 9min50, awesome!)
• Walked 3 min ran 12 (hit mile 2 at about 9min30, so we ran/walked it in about 12min30)
• Walked 3
• Ran 5
• Walked 1 (started flagging after the last of a bunch of hily sections)
• Ran to finish

Total time: 40min

So, in addition to meeting my secret goal I also learned that I am definitely capable of running under 10min mile. Next week, we scale it back a bit to keep me from overextending myself and ruining this whole experiment. In the meantime, here's a picture of our post-race noms (not counting the honey-granola frozen yogurt we snagged at a vendor booth near the finish!)

                               

UPDATE: PICTURES FROM THE RACE

(Left: Me in the red pants, with two ladies from my church. Right: My husband and I, after the race. He's so cute.)
   

Running log

My plan in the future is to do an update once per week on my running progress (with more snippets in between, maybe, if I find something neat about cross-training or nutrition). But, since I haven't posted a training schedule to keep me accountable yet, I thought I'd share a blurb about tonight's run. So, I was following the Couch to 5k program from Cool Running to prepare for our 3rd annual North Texas Warrior Dash. Unfortunately for ME, my body decided it was a great time to get bronchitis. This weekend was the first time in about two weeks that I was able to run since the diagnosis. It could've gone worse; my leg muscles were lazy and my groin starting twinging a bit, but my heart and lungs did fine. In about an hour, I'm going to join a friend to run the course of the upcoming Susan Komen 5k. I figure that will give me a decent indication of where I currently stand. I will select a training plan based on the cumulative results of this week's runs. Wish me luck. I'll post an update when I get back.

THE UPDATE
Well, folks... we've got a lot of work to do. I ran/walked/stumbled my way through the incredibly beautiful and hilly Komen Tyler Race for the Cure 5K course (which covers some of the same ground as the Tyler Half). It was pretty rough - but exhilarating. I expected my lungs to hold up fine, but my joints to act up. Silly me. My joints were fine and my leg muscles didn't give me any trouble, but my lungs were screaming. This might be a byproduct of the bronchitis, as I've still had a bit of chest tightness and a small cough.  I definitely got extremely dizzy in the last third of the course, although that might have had something to do with the heat.

Overall, I'm happy-ish with the run. My plan for the Komen race this weekend is to run 3 min/walk 1 min from the start of the course. This should allow me to finish the race consistently, without gasping for air and spinning at the end.


The glamour shot...