3rd Trimester 5K

It wasn't on the calendar, but running a 5K seemed like a good way to get me out of bed on a Saturday to run.  I am around 20lbs over my pre-preggo weight and my running has slowed, but I still thought it would be fun to get out and run with a group.  The hardest part was knowing that I couldn't push it.  Knowing that I couldn't chase down that 'rabbit'.  This was going to just be a run and my goal was to finish and make sure I didn't overexert.

It was the Dogwood 5K in Neosho, MO.  A friend told me about it on Friday, otherwise I wouldn't have heard about it at all.  I was expecting the typical 5K turnout for this area (30-50 runners).  Turned out to be around 120 runners in total - that was a happy surprise - the more the merrier!  It's a great idea - $8 to pre-register, and $10 day of race - no t-shirt, just a nice size dogwood to all finishers - awesome!

Race started at 9am and I took off.  We headed south (into a pretty strong wind).  I found my pace pretty quickly, continually telling myself to not go out to fast.  No garmin so it was all by feel.  After about a mile we made a turn east and up a hill.  This is where you found out who hadn't been telling themselves not to go out too fast!  I was able to pick off a few people just by not walking up the first hill.  We made a turn back south for around a block before curving back east and back up hill.  Again, a few more people fell behind.  Then, the turn North, wind at our backs, rolling hills, dogwoods in bloom on a beautiful day.  It felt great.  I passed the 2 mile mark (twice within a block - not sure which one was correct, but it didn't really matter).  Shortly after 2 miles I felt the baby moving and then the dreaded pressure on the bladder.  It hit hard for a minute, then let off, a sigh of relief was felt.  I kept focus on the four people directly ahead of me and just tried to keep my pace steady.  It didn't seem like any time before we were turning west to the final stretch - all downhill.  I sped up some, shook out my arms and bounded down the last hill into the finish corral.  I stopped long enough to have my number ripped off then straight to the bathroom!  My internal goal had been to finish in under 30 minutes and the man informed me that I had so I was happy.  Running for more than 2 miles without a bathroom or walk break at this point in pregnancy is a great run.  Eventually I'll find out my actual time, but regardless it was a great race.

Still thinking about doing a 10K in a couple weeks - we will see if the body likes that idea or not.  :-)