I RAN A 5-MILE RACE!

It's been a summer of not really running, and I've re-invented myself as a hiker and backpacker, but I believe I just ran a race.

Saturday I took my mom (who's been visiting us) down to Sandown, NH, where her family had had a summer cabin when she was a kid. Sandown was having its annual "Old Home Days" festival, which included a 5-mile race, so I thought, she'd love the Old Home Days and if we were going I might as well run the race.

You might remember I've hardly run all summer. After the Vermont City Marathon I thought I might just quit running.

About 3 weeks ago, with a "possible" race coming up, I started running/walking for half an hour 2 or 3 days a week, starting with run 1 minute, walk 1. Worked up little by little till, Tuesday of last week, I ran/walked for a whole hour run 7/walk 3, then Thursday (2 days before the race) I did half an hour of run 10, walk 1. I don't know if any of these runs added up to as much as 5 miles, didn't measure.

So I went to the race and registered and that's when I saw the t-shirt, whose design featured the course elevation map. Oh, great!

I figured to start slow and then ease up. It did turn out to be hilly, but only one was one of those long slow killers. Most were very substantial rollers, with the elevation changing a couple hundred feet in between. Well, I haven't been running, but I've been hiking in the White Mountains....

Ask me my time. Go on, ask me. You know you're dying to.

48:42!!! For 5 miles!! On hills!! When I haven't run all summer!! Gol-durn! Averages out to 9:44/mile. Gol-DURN!!!

Mile 1: 9:44
Mile 2: 9:07
Mile 3: 9:37
Mile 4: 10:45 (obviously the mile with the bad hill)
Mile 5: 9:27

I am astonished. Looks like I run my best when I don't run for weeks :-)

P.S. As I saw my splits add up (at least till mile 4,) I began to hope I might win something. But I was 4th out of 4 women 50-59. Sandown has some FAST WOMEN!! First in my AG ran 41:xx. Third was about 40 seconds ahead of me.