So J, my friend who asked for assistance in training for a 5k, is about to do her last run before she leaves for Washington DC, where the road race is actually taking place. I’m super-thrilled to give another update on her progress, mostly because after a month, she is totally ready to a 5K finisher!!
We did an almost 4 mile run together last week to work on pacing — she says one of her biggest issues when she runs alone is she runs too fast. This hasn’t been a problem I have encountered; if anything, I run too slowly because my aim is to run for a long time, not sprint anything and not to get it all over with. So we worked on running at a conversational pace, which of course meant we had to delve into some conversation — issues such as what the freaky noise in the bushes was, my first trip to Vegas, her job at Goodwill, and our mutual hatred of flying were discussed, and left her with enough energy to bound up the final hill towards her car.
The best part of the run was when she turned to me and said, “Let’s keep doing this, even after the race!”
Hells yes. Watch out Orange County — we’ve got one more running addict on the road. Next stop: Dana Point Turkey Trot. I’m excited to have TWO friends to do this race with (Ken has agreed, too!), and to finally have a race to look forward to. Maybe I can break out of these pretty mortifying 9:45 minute miles and get my running groove back.
