Twenty-Two Before Twenty-Two | St David's Day 5k Race

Last year after my 21st birthday I decided to write a list of 22 new things I really wanted to do before my next birthday. Some of them where quite easily achievable, whist others will require more planning and effort.

So, last Sunday I trekked down to Cardiff to run my first ever race! I'd like to clarify before we set off that whilst this was a 'race', the only thing I was competing against was my own fitness. G. and I stayed over night with Monica and Josh before the run, otherwise that would have added another hour or so to our day and getting up at 6.30am was bad enough! I was really nervous on the drive up, and as the minutes ticked away mockingly fast I just got even more nervous. Somehow though, by the time we actually got the registration I kinda just wanted to get it over with. I had this feeling that I'd never be able to run all of it so I guess I was setting myself up for a fail.

The race was sponsored by 'British Military Fitness' and so there was a guy in Khaki guiding us through some warm up exercises. I couldn't really hear him properly and got bored pretty quick. There was also a lot of sprinting on the spot which actually made me feel worn out rather than warmed up. So, I was off to a great start. Ahem.

We stood on the starting line, somewhere behind Gandalf and Cruella de Vil, who had decided to come out and run of Charity, how nice of them! Monica and I wished each other luck and we were off!

I had this amazing mind set that I would go slow and steady, keep a normal pace like my usual runs and hope that adrenaline would carry me the rest of the way, seeing as we'd only trained for a 3.5k so far. On the day however, I SUCKED! I went waaay too fast compared to what I was used to and had to walk huge chunks of the course. I'd say I kept up a stead run 3mins then walk 3mins rather that just bloody jog the whole thing. Annoying.

The first 1k was really hard work, which baffled me. I tired myself out really fast and then felt really disheartened and close to tears. I was convinced that I'd never finish a whole 5k within my goal time of 50 minutes at the rate. When I came around the corner and saw the 2k marker, I decided to start running again, just as another group of girls started jogging past me. I decided to try and match their pace as I figured I'd gone too fast at the start. This was really the tell-tale sign that I had been going way too fast as when I went to 'match' their pace, I accidentally zoomed past them. Ah well!

Monica did amazingly well, of course and managed to run pretty much the whole thing because she paced herself properly. I'm just going to follow her next time...

I kept going until just before the 4k marker, and just carried on doing a run/walk/run/walk to the finish line. Apparently, I was so excited to get my bottle of water I went straight past where I needed to hand it my tracking tag, collect my medal, and my tee shirt. Eager much? This photo was taken after I'd trekked all the way back to pick up my tee and medal. See how proudly I'm waving it? So, I did my 5k in about 46 minutes and whilst I was exhausted I was also pretty damn proud of us both. Monica finished in about 42 minutes!

My next 5k is in Carmarthen on May 6th, and I'm really looking forward to smashing my time! The goal is 25 minutes.