I started C25K at the end of August having never run more than a mile (and with a record mile time of 10:52). Tired of lacking fitness, wanting to give my diet room for a little more food, and worried about my long-term cardiovascular health because of genetic high cholesterol, I finally decided to give C25K a shot.

My 5K race was today. I finished the 9 weeks a couple weeks ago and since then have been trying to mimic the last week to keep my fitness up. Up until this Wednesday, I was worried I wouldn't be able to finish the 5K because I never managed to make it to 3.1 miles during the program--the closest I ever got was 2.8k and that was including the warm-up/cool-down. Luckily, I managed to run 3.2 miles during my training run this Wednesday. Moreover, my time for the 5K during that run was 36:31--faster than my goal time of 37 for the official 5K. That was a needed confidence boost.

Today's 5K was small and casual. It was organized by some people that work in the post-high school educational programs for disabled students. Everything about it was casual--the times were announced at the finish line by a man with a stopwatch. This casualness extended to the route markings.

When I heard my Strava app announce that I had already run 2 miles, I thought "Shit--there's no way the finish is only a mile away." I was exactly right--I had missed an important turn.

I Google Map'd my way back to the finish line. About 3.9 miles in, some race organizer found me and said "Hey, you may have noticed there was some miscommunication! I can give you a ride back if you would like." Knowing I wasn't too far from the finish, I refused, intent on finishing the race by foot.

In the end, I managed to run 4.2 miles in 48:13. Strava gives me a 5K PB of 35:10. So I still don't have an official race 5K time, but at least I broke a distance PR! I'll definitely be confident enough to run my next 5K, at least after I take a much closer look at the race map.

Some horrible backlit photos of me about to cross the finish line

Strava link