Run to the Well Kibo 5K - 3/28/15

     I signed up for this race mainly because Gary a member of Life Time Run was apart of it with his Church group. The Kibo group has races as fundraisers to drill fresh water wells in Africa and other undeveloped countries. I thought it would be a good test of how my hip was healing and if I had managed to maintain my fitness.

     I got up kind of late but grabbed some coffee a lite breakfast, let the dog out, bathroom, dressed, dog in, bathroom again & out the door to the car. I was running late, like I mean was I going to make it before the gun went off! I'm speeding, passing people and cussing myself all the way there. I find a parking space, grab the bib and pin it on as I'm speed walking across to the start line. I get to the start with 2 minutes to spare! Hah!

     The gun goes off and away we go. It is a small race less than 200 people, I think that is counting dogs & baby strollers! I find a pace that feels comfortably hard. My hip feels ok, no pain! Yay!

     The first mile I'm breathing okay, nothing hurts but it just feels more difficult than I think it should. I can feel the lack of running over the past few months.

     The second mile, I come up on a woman who is a chatty Kathy. No that is not her name but I can't remember it. Normally I don't like to talk when I'm running and especially not in a race. I figure if you are able to talk faster than you are moving then you need to run faster and talk less! Today though I run beside Chatty and let her monologue distract me from how hard the ground is, the effort I'm putting out to maintain this pace and how much I will have to work to get back to where I was before the hip injury.

     Now somewhere at the start of mile 3 Chatty moves on pass me to another group to talk to. I concentrate on my breathing, my footfalls, the push off and start doing an inventory of how all the body parts feel. It seems to be getting easier, (I still hate the first 2 miles) my breathing is easy, heart rate is good, hip is pain free. And I feel like it is Go time.

     I reach the turn around on the bridge and decide it is all down hill to the finish. I start picking up the pace and start picking off people. As I come off the bridge I pick up the pace again and see Chatty up ahead still talking. I pick it up again and I pass Chatty, I hear her say where did you come from, I tell her come on it is go time, there is the finish. I pick up the pace and sprint across the line. Usually I feel like I am done when I cross the finish line but I was just starting to feel good I felt like I could just keep running. God it felt so good to push hard at the finish.

     Well I didn't keep running. I seen Gary at the finish, he gave me a hug and thanked me for coming and we chatted for a few about running and injuries. Good times! Official time was 32:30! Not to bad for breathing easy and not running for more than 8 wks.

     The only problem with this whole race is that the Hip started throbbing later that day and continued for weeks. Running this race pushed back my healing another 6 weeks. Bleep, bleep, bleep de bleep bleep!

Live Epic!
Michelle