Not so Fast!: My First 5k!

My first race was a 5k at the Tampa Airport! I chose that race because it was an awesome location, a 5k, and I knew that registering for a race would be the best motivation for getting out there and running! (I ran this race in late April, before I was using any training plan).

Posing before the race

The 5k took place an a runway at the Tampa Airport, so cool! The downside to a runway race is... no shade! They did have a fire truck shooting water at us at least.

Coming up on the finish line!

As I mentioned, I did not follow any plan and just made sure that I was able to run 3 miles before race day. I finished the race around 32 minutes (I'm not exactly sure of my time as I didn't have my phone to use Map my Run). I definitely got caught up in the excitement of the start line and ran way too fast for the first mile. I ended up burning myself out early on. Lesson learned. I've been focusing more on distance than speed just because of this. I want to be able to run far without having to stop for walking breaks, even if it means going at a slower pace. Eventually, I'll focus more on speed and increasing my pace. Maybe I should rename my blog to Not So Fast Jogger.

Just like flying a jet plane

I had a great time at the Tampa International Airport 5k Runway Fun run. Registration and raffle ticket proceeds benefited the United Way Suncoast.

Official pictures of the event can be found on their Flickr page: Runway Fun Run (I'm not in any of them.... yes, I looked through them all). Although there are none of my handsome mug, there are cool pictures of the police helicopter that hovered over us (security yo!), the fire truck, and better views of the actual runway we ran on.