Congratulations on your first 5k, Elizabeth!

Do you remember your first race?  Unfortunately I don’t.  It may have been the Oak Apple Run in Royal Oak, MI around 1980 but I’m not sure.  I do remember that all of the races I did early in my “career” were fun.  It was all new and exciting.  Even though I knew I could run the 5k or 10k distance there was always the nervousness of wanting to run a good time and beat my previous personal best.  Or not wanting to go out too fast and have to walk at the end.  Actually, I still have some of those same feelings after 30 years of running.  

So what got me thinking about my first race?  Well, it was seeing the Facebook post from my niece in Florida after she ran her first 5k this morning.  That’s her on the right in the blurry photo.  (Yes, hats and gloves in FL).  I knew she had done some running but didn’t know she was planning on a race.  I know some people run and never consider doing races but I can’t understand that.  To me the races are the fun part.  Okay, most the training is fun too but races are more exciting.   

So, congratulations, Elizabeth!  I hope you enjoyed it and that you get to finish many, many more.  But try to remember this one.  And if for some reason you don’t do any more races you can still always say you ran a 5k.  The majority of adults can not make that statement!