Kim versus the 5K: Bunny Run

My friend Lauren told me about this race a long time ago and together we stalked The City of Tomball's website awaiting them to post the race info. This race, last year, was Lauren's first race and she raced it with her husband, Rodney. They had fond memories and couldn't wait to do it again.

Do you know that I have raced all my races this year with Lauren? I will surely miss her when I do the Chicago Rock 'n' Roll Half on 8/1! I think she will miss me in two weeks when she runs her Nashville Rock 'n' Roll Half. I'm so proud of her though...I am nowhere near ready to do a half yet, so mad props to Lauren and Rodney!!!

Okay, I set off to do this race with one very specific goal in mind. Of course everyone always wants a PR whenever they run a race...that's a given. I wanted to get that PR, but to do so with a time under 40 minutes. Now as you may recall, I clocked a 44:15 at the Rocket's Run on January 31st. We don't talk about the Rodeo Run on February 27th because I sucked and didn't have an official time anyway (but...yes it was worse than the Rocket's Run time). The first half of the H.E.B. Bayou City Classic (March 13th) which would be a 5K since the whole race was a 10K, I clocked a 41:33. I know you don't want me to hold you in suspense, but patience, my little grasshoppers, is a virtue.

Let's talk about the race. The Bunny Run was a small town race in every way you can imagine, but it had a charm that was...cute. The mayor gave all of us runners a little greeting. There were some local vendors out there providing free products/services. Apparently some port-a-potties were ordered, but didn't show up (ooops). There were even some moonwalks for the kiddies. As promised, the course was flat (yay) which I am a huge fan of, by the way! There were 3 water stations in total - two along the course stationed at Mile 1 and Mile 2 and then the third one was once you crossed the finish line. There was a dude holding a cooler filled with water bottles. The local policemen they had along the course were friendly and gave "thumb-ups" or shouted encouragement. All in all, it was a fun experience and I would happily partake in next year's Bunny Run!

Let's talk about my performance. Courtesy of my Garmin Forerunner (yay), I had all kinds of info available to me as I ran. I had my pace at any given moment, I had the time, I had the distance, and I had my average pace (just to name a few of the fields I was working with). I, once again ran using my 4/1 intervals - 4 minutes of running followed by 1 minute of walking and repeat. I'm still struggling with the whole negative split thing, but hey...I'm a continual work in progress.

So now for the answer to the question you have all been PATIENTLY waiting for......did she do it? YES I DID! I clocked 39:40!!! This was a 12:35 average pace. The improvement makes me emotional because it is so much more than the physical achievement...it's an accumulation of how far I've come in mind, body, and spirit in the past 9 months.

Oh...and I almost forgot. My finishing song (and this, my friends, is priceless) was Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive".

Next stop: The Chicago Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon on 8/1 (eeeek)!

Happy Trails!!!

Lauren and I before the race.

Lauren, Rodney, and I.

Me before the sweat all Nike'd up.

Victorious!!!