Giving Your Heart and Sole

Even though it was hubby's birthday today (shhhh, he didn't want anyone to know), I was the one who felt old. Or at least in need of some good reading glasses.

Last week I decided to sign up for the annual Heart & Sole Run at Pittsville. This is the 30th year of the event, which is always held July 3 as a benefit for their fire department. Anytime I have pondered doing it, it's been 95 degrees with 118% humidity. And that's for a 7 p.m. race! So I've never done it. When I saw the forecast call for only a high of 79 or 80 today, I decided to sign up.

I thought the options were a kids race, a 2-mile race and a 5K. I decided to sign up for the 5K because I'll be doing one at the end of July and this would be a good starting point to see how far I have to go with my progress. With the recent running app I have been letting dictate my run/walks, I have been doing some running but it still has equaled about half walking.

Sometime late this afternoon I decided to double-check the race website and see where I needed to be and at what time. Here's a rule of thumb when registering for a race: Make sure it says 5K not 5 mile! Not kidding. Wow. That was a surprise just an hour before leaving the house.

Well I knew I was not ready to run a 5-mile race. Even walking some of it, that's a stretch when I am only in the middle of my Couch to 5K transition. Secondly, when I got to Pittsville and saw that it was still 84 degrees out at 6 p.m., I knew I had to find a way to switch my registration to the 2-mile run. My body was not ready for the long haul... in heat.

Thankfully they let me switch to the 2-mile run without any problems or extra costs. All I had to do was figure out how I was going to run it all without walking. A 2-mile race is pretty much a sprint, after all.

For the record, I don't do sprints. Except for those 15-second ones in my app, which are always followed by walking. So my goal was just to make it through without having to walk. I wanted to finish in 22 minutes or less, knowing that my "run" might be more like an 11-minute-mile "jog."

They had all participants for 2- and 5-mile races start together. I did not realize what a big event this is. Somewhere between 800-1,000 people. That's awesome. And a reality check that all I could do was try my best.

I started off at a good pace that felt perhaps too fast for me to keep up. At the mile turn-around, my time was 9:42. Wow, less than a 10-minute mile? Could I keep that up? I really wanted to walk already since I am used to walking after a good short run. But I talked myself into plugging along even if I slowed down.

I think I realized I was going slower because I initiated one helluva sprint for at least the last quarter mile or so. I felt like I was running 20 mph as I passed at least a dozen people, especially any women who looked like they were in the 40-49 age group. Ha. Not kidding. As I crossed the finish line I realized I finished in less than 20 minutes!

19 minutes, 48 seconds, to be precise. Much better than I expected. And no, I can't just tack on another mile and expect to do my 5K (for real) at the end of the month at that pace. But I can now work toward it.

Turns out I finished 10th out of 55 runners in my age division. Respectable! I also finished 100 out of the 340 female 2-milers and 266 out of all 628 2-milers. Definitely respectable for a first-timer.

And for an old lady who apparently needs glasses!