I got up incredibly early this morning (too early, in fact) so that I could get my stuff together, eat a good breakfast and get out to the Pittsburgh Zoo for the ZooZilla 5k.
I fully expected to have a slower finish time than the personal best I hit at the 5k I did last month; I’m familiar with the Pittsburgh Zoo, and I know how very, very hilly it is. I was just hoping to be able to run the entire thing without having to walk.
And I did!
I won’t lie – it was incredibly difficult and there were numerous times that I almost walked… I certainly wanted to. I kept pushing though, because I knew my body could do it and that I just had to convince my brain of that. I also knew that I’d beat myself up if I let myself walk when my didn’t didn’t absolutely have to.
I finished with a time of 32:54. Not too shabby!
I’m really enjoying doing these races so often. It keeps me motivated, and I love the actual events: I get a charge out of running with a bunch of similar-minded folks (even in the wee hours of the morning) and working on improving my performance and thus, my overall fitness level.
With that said, I’m planning to do one event like this a month, for as many months as I can find an event in my area. I know that might sound a little extreme, but this works for me.
Next month I’ll be doing the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning – that one’s an 8k… 5 miles! As you know, I hope to increase my endurance enough to be able to run that entire route. I don’t think that should be a problem if I stick to my training schedule.
In December, there’s a “Trot for Tots” which helps to provide toys for kids during the Christmas season – I love that! The Trot for Tots has two different distance options: 5k and 10k. I’d love to do the 10k, but 6.2 miles? Yeesh!
Sounds like I’ll be doing a lot of trotting between now and the end of the year!
