Valentine's 5K- FFFK Results

As I wrote a few days ago, I committed to running a 5K today in honor of Non-Runner Nancy whose freakish flexibility has forced her to give up running. Thanks again to USJogger for hosting the Freakish Flexible Five K in her honor.

Since USJogger said the rules were a little flexible, Mike and I decided to run a real 5K instead of staging our own virtual race. We ran the Valentine's 5K around Lake Harriet this morning along with several hundred other hearty souls. And, as an added bonus, we will be able to use our times in The 2009 Shave Your 5K Challenge over at Half-Fast. (Can you tell I just learned how to hyper-link?) In these tough times, you have to get value out of every race!

Here is the start and finish area at Lake Harriet. As you can see, it was a cloudy and cold morning. Temps were in the low teens and it was a little windy.

Here are Mike and I in the car before the race. We were able to park on the side of the road directly behind the start line. We stayed in the toasty car until a few minutes before the start. Then we just hopped out and lined up towards the front of the pack. We just ignored those nasty looks from those who weren't smart enough to park in such a great spot. Hey, if they had slipped us a few bucks (or given us a pitiful look) we would have let them sit in the car with us!

It was snowing a little, but all of the sidewalks were perfectly clear. After the first quarter mile or so the crowd broke up enough that I could run at my own pace. The sun came out and I was thankful for the cold temps since I was sprinting my little heart out! I despise being hot when I run, so once I got going I was glad for the breeze and the cold.

Here we are after the finish. Mike cruised in at 21:53, not a PR but pretty good given the crowd and that it is the first race of the season. I finished in 27:07. Even though it is almost 2 minutes slower than my PR, I was really happy. My plantar fasciitis flared up this week and my legs have been feeling heavy during my training runs. I was honestly thrilled that I was under 30 minutes.

We were able to meet up with Kris, a friend and fellow runner who was there with a couple friends all training for a marathon in May. Here are Kris and I:Yes, she looks very cute in her Valentine-ish pink Target top. Why didn't I think to wear something red or pink?

There was no official timing, but they did give us a very nice, long sleeved technical shirt and heart shaped cookie at the end. Gotta love a cookie after a race! Happy Valentine's Day and loving thoughts to Nancy!

The Freakishly Flexible 5K

After I signed up for my first marathon, I found my self spending a lot of time thinking about running and training. I started looking for running blogs so I could hear other people's stories and hopefully learn something along the way. One of the first blogs I happened upon was Non-Runner Nancy's. I enjoy and admire so many things about her blog. I love her attitude towards running. She is always positive and approaches things with a playful attitude. I admire her support and enthusiasm for others. I enjoy reading about her virtual races and am always amazed by how they bring the whole blog/running community together.

In Nancy's last post, she talks about why she can't run anymore and what that loss means to her. There were two things that she said that made me stop and re-read them. The first was, "I'm mourning the lessons of being so bad and having to remain positive and everything it taught me." This statement struck very close to home for me. So many times I've talked to my kids about why running means so much to me even though I'm so slow. We've talked about how you can have a passion for something even if you are not the best at it, and that there are so many things in life to learn and they don't all come through doing something well. I've hoped many times that they won't be afraid to try something just because they might look silly or fail. Having to remain positive and motivated in the face of mediocrity and injury is a test that a lot of us runners have faced.

The other thing Nancy wrote was, "I learned how to run my own race, something so valuable in every day life." I can list so many reasons why I named this blog "Running My Own Race", too many to get into right now. The fact that someone else mentioned it as something they learned through running made me smile.

In homage to Nancy, USJogger is hosting The Freakishly Flexible 5K on Valentine's Day. Everyone will race in honor of Nancy and post their results and love for her. I'm planning on running an actual race for my virtual race, The Valentine's 5K. I'm sad that the first virtual race that I get to blog about is one that is in honor of Nancy instead of one in which she is running. I'm glad, however, that she started something that I can share in and show her my gratitude. I'm sure she'll find a new avenue for her humor and enthusiasm and hopefully she will share that ongoing story with us.