Does the K Stand for "This Might Kill You?"

Morning came dark and early for an eager first-time 5k runner today.

Our friends John and Stacie came to town for this run-fest weekend. Stacie is a fantastic encourager. John agreed to run the 5k with me. It was his first 5k race, too. Kelly manned the camera, preserving his running energy for tomorrow's marathon.

Runners 51 and 116 were chilled and ready to go, wondering why on earth we had to wait until 9 am for race start. Oh well.

Now I understand what Kelly means when he says that a race is different than training. Unlike my training path, the race route was fraught with danger: small children running, stopping, running again (one even did a face-plant near the start line); potholes; strong gusts of wind; and, seriously, hills in both directions. It was easy to see this race was unlike anything I'd experienced before.

So it's prob5ably not a surprise to admit that I "hit the wall" at the .5 mile mark, the 1 mile mark, and the 1.75-2.25 mile mark. I don't even want to talk about the last 400 yards.

At one point, I turned to John and said, "I really want to walk. Please don't let me."

He didn't, not even when we looked at the last stretch, all uphill save the final 50 yards.

We did it - finishing in just under 36 minutes. That's only a few seconds off of my training pace. I couldn't believe it.

I just have to say it again: We finished our first 5k. We ran the entire distance. We weren't the fastest, but we weren't the slowest either. In fact, we finished dead in the middle of the pack.

And I got my t-shirt!