Celebration Run

Today was the Celebration 5K run. It was the culmination of 10 weeks of learning to run. The course took us through the paved park trails, grassy fields and a wooded trail.
We woke up to heavy gray skies and rain. It is always tempting to stay at home on days like this. Yet, we stuck to the plan. We packed up the kids (the girls had slept in their running clothes!) and headed out.
On arrival we all pinned on our bibs and then watched the kids race. Abbey and Jenna were awesome! Abbey said she came in 4th place! Jenna actually ran the whole thing without me by her side! They both got ribbons.
Danny, Eli, Benn and I lined up for our race. Then Abbey wanted to try it, too. She ran with her grandmother whose running pace is a little slower. She ended up doing one loop of the two loop race, but her grandmother says she was running ahead and coming back a lot, so we think she probably ran at least 2 miles! Great job Abbey!!
As soon as I started running I knew I was probably running faster than I should at the start. I wasn't sure I could keep up that pace for the entire race. But this was a race so I decided to go for it. I hit one mile at 9 min. 36 sec. Then I hit 2 miles at 19:11. The last leg was certainly the hardest. It was raining, so I couldn't tell what was sweat and what was rain. I am thankful for the rain because it probably kept me cooled off a lot! I ended up running the race at 29 minutes 57 seconds. I improved my first 5K and ran pretty consistent with my weekday run times.
Prizes were awarded at the end to the different age groups. Benn ended up winning 2nd place for 19 and under, I won second place for my age group and Danny won 2nd for his age group! My running mother-in-law won 3rd for age group. We even got medals! Way to go guys!!!
We got our next phase running plans. I can't wait to get started on these. We will be doing more specific training for speed and endurance. I think I am ready for that!