Sweetheart 5k run

Man I was getting so anxious for this run.  Yesterday, I mentioned this to a woman at the gym who used to run a lot.  She said, "I've found there are two kinds of runners.  One, those who are in tune with their bodies the whole time, those are...the top runners...the cream of the crop."  She took a wistful pause and I briefly thought she was going to kiss her fingers to honor these elite runners like waiters in Italian restaurants do when describing their transcendent ravioli.  She continued, "the other kind are the ones who need a distraction."  She looked at me, "Maybe you could have a radio."  I totally took no insult that I wasn't an elite runner and confirmed, that yes, yes!  I'll be playing music when I run.

And...I finished!

With a smile, to boot.

It was chilly--in the 30s.  And as usual, I started gasping immediately.  But I finished!  And it was pretty hilly terrain according to my RunKeeper app (fyi, 186 meters is approximately 610 feet):

What threw me off is that part of the trail overlaps part of itself towards the end and a 12K race was starting as we were finishing so we started to run into each other in opposite directions.  I heard a runner say "you got this" and another (thinking I was in his race) helpfully shout, "you're going the wrong way!"  Pretty supportive, don't you think?  I ended up stopping at one point after my app said I finished 5K and checking my map to make sure I was going the right way.  I was on the right path and found my way to the finish line.

According to my splits, I finished 5 km in 39:49, which was in line with my goal.

But apparently, the official 5K finished further out than my app calculated and my official time was 48:27.  At least I have time to beat next year--and I won't need to check a map next time!