Monday, May 24, 2010

Getting Out - Our First 5K


Don't be grossed out. A lot of that is rain.

You may have seen in the news Washington, DC was just named the nation's fittest city. It's a city where everybody runs. It's almost mandatory. Kathryn and I have gotten into the act too since moving to the city. We've been slowly working our way up with an interval program, and this Sunday we completed our first ever 5K race, the Poplar Spring "Run for the Animals!"

We picked the race based on the date and how far we had to drive, so there was a lot we weren't expecting.
  • This was a relatively small race, with only 326 finishers.
  • Most of the field was made up of hardcore competitive runners.
  • The route was partially on running paths and partially on muddy trails.
  • It rained pretty hard before the race and sprinkled throughout. This was actually quite nice.
  • DC is a super flat town, so neither of us have much experience with hills. The course was loaded with hills which provided a fun challenge.
It wasn't pretty, but it was fun. We were able to finish, and by definition, we both achieved new personal records. 37:35 for me and 38:10 for Kathryn, that's 261 and 270 place finishes, people!

Here's a look at the course map from my awesome Garmin Forerunner watch (my birthday gift from Kathryn).

Elevation changes, also from Forerunner.

Update: Here's a couple of (low resolution) finish line pictures from the run.



3 comments:

  1. Runners now? I'm scared. :)

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  2. Congratulations on your first race! What a fun way to get to know the city! Glad you're both doing well.

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  3. Good job you guys! And with hills, that's definitely an accomplishment.

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