Big Brook Park 5k today was wet, but the rain held off till after the race was over. It was overcast and 58° just about perfect for running. My time was a disappointing 30:14. I am not terribly surprised because the race worked out as I imagined it probably would. My first smile was in 8:25. At that time my legs and breathing were fine. I thought a quick time might be in order when I read that on my watch. Hills in the 2nd mile slowed the pace considerably. Yet I still felt OK entering mile number three with the hope of running a quicker final segment. To my dismay the final mile consisted of an unending series of rolling, hills up and down, some short and some much longer, which dampened my enthusiasm dramatically. I became so frustrated that I actually walked a few strides on one of the hills, something I never do. The final 400m was swift and controlled. I recovered quickly and ran a 1 mile cool down before the pouring rain started.

There are two takeaways from this event. One- I am not prepared to run hills. Two- I still am not yet aerobically conditioned for a 5K. I will try to resolve both those issues over the next five weeks.

I emerged from the event unscathed. But I will most likely have unhappy calves after running my first 5K in spikes.