A bad race.

Today, I ran my first 5k.
Or, I was supposed to.

I was really nervous this morning. I ate a rice cake with PB and drank lots of water.
I showed up and I was ready. I have trained for two months. I have run 3.8 miles before. I knew I could do it.

Before the race and ready to go!

I got off to a good start-but I ran too fast. Way too fast. I can't start out at a 7:30 miles.

I managed to slow myself down to an 8-9 minute mile, but then, at about mile 1.5, I got a cramp.

Now, when I get a cramp, I usually just take deeper breathes and slow down a bit and it goes away. No big deal, right? Well today, I slowed down and took deeper breathes- but the cramp kept getting worse. A lot worse. I was forced to walk- I tried all the usual techniques, like pushing on it, massaging it, taking deep breathes, stretching, but it just kept getting worse. I saw the mile 2 marker, and the time- 24:00.

I knew I couldn't run 1.1 miles in 6 minutes, and my cramp was still really terrible. I wanted to cry. I had worked so hard for this, and somehow I got a cramp today? How did it all disappear so fast?

 I managed to finally get rid of the cramp, but by that point, I was very discouraged, and it was past 30:00, my goal time. I ran the last half a mile, but by then it didn't matter.


I finished in about 36 minutes.

My goal time was 30 minutes.

I feel like I failed.


This was my first official 5k, and I had one goal- to finish, while running the whole way. I didn't complete that goal. This is really difficult for me. I failed.

The worst part is, I have run 3.1 miles before. I have run 3.7 miles before. According to my nike plus, I have run 3 miles in 28 minutes!

When I looked at my run on nike plus after the race, it shows that I ran 3.8 miles. I turned it on before the race started, and about two minutes after it ended, but I didn't get anywhere near .7 miles nike says I did.

This is really difficult. I thought I was running longer and faster than I was, for the past three weeks.

I am very disappointed in nike plus for having numbers that off. It is very discouraging for me as a runner.

I have another 5k on May 12th. I will run that one in under 30 minutes. I won't give up on myself or running. I love running- I just didn't love today.