My First 5K!!!!

Well it has been a while. I have to say that consistency is not my gift. I do however want to give you an update as to how I am doing. I had been training off and on (like 3 weeks on, 3 months off) for a 5k since last summer. I had been following the Couch to 5K program which is set up to be a 9 week interval running program. However, in good ol' Paula fashion, it took me a bit longer. No regrets though. One day I just said "That's it. I'm signing up for a race and I'd better train seriously so that my $ doesn't go to waste!" And that is exactly what I did. This past Sunday I ran the Del Mar IronGirl 5k with my 15 yr. old daughter. I ran most of the race except for about 4 minutes at the end...we actually ran on the race track where the horses run...it was like running through mud...ugh! My goal was to complete the race in under 45 minutes and to not be the last one to cross the finish line. And guess what? I finished in 42:46 and I was right in the middle of the pack! It felt great! I immediately got back on the computer to find another race in a few months so I can keep on training.

New goal you ask? Finish under 40 min. I found a great website that you can download music from based on you desired BPM's (beats per minute). It's called Run 2 Rythmn. My current pace is at about a 14 minute mile and so now I am training towards a 12 minute mile. On this site I found some great bluegrassy sounding music to run to at the 12 min/mile pace (156bpm) and my thinking is that if I keep running to it, eventually I will run on beat, right? I tried it out today and loved it. Anyway, I'll keep you posted...I promise!