9 miler and Franklin 5K

Soooo...on Friday I made my attempt at 9 miles.  I did 9 miles, but I most certainly did not run 9 miles and the only reason I didn't do less than 9 miles was because it was an out and back run, so I had to get back to my car somehow.

It was soooo freaking hot.  We ran at a little after 4 pm and the sun was blazing.  And I was not in a good place mentally as you guys know.  I was complaining by mile 3.  I had to walk for a bit before we even hit mile 4 (which is not normal). And I walked the last mile and a half almost entirely.  It was the worst run of my life.

I was freaking out because I had a 5K the next day and my legs were so sore I could barely walk before I even finished the run.  So I took an ice bath when I got home.  Yes, I actually dumped ice in my tub and sat in freezing cold water for 20 minutes.  It sucked.  But it worked!  I was a tad sore the next day, but I was expecting to not even be able to walk!

I ran the 5K Saturday morning.  I was slower than I'd like to be, but only a few seconds off my fastest 5K time.  I finished in 34:30.  I'm slow ya'll.  I don't think I will ever be a fast runner.  I've decided after this half, the only thing I want to train for is getting in under 30 minutes for a 5K.

The race was the ZTA Franklin 5K.  I was a ZTA in college at ECU and I was seriously impressed with the event the UNC Zeta's pulled off.  It was really organized, well attended, and the philanthropy (Susan G Komen breast cancer) was evident everywhere.

I even got to see one of my ECU Zeta sisters finish her very first 5K at this race!  I haven't seen her in years, but follow her blog so I feel like I know her better than some people I see on a daily basis.  She rocked it!  She was just ahead of me  for the whole last half of the race and I was so proud of her!  She is seriously superwoman.  She has 3 young kids and a  career and managed to train for this 5K and finish strong!  It was great to see her and meet her adorable kids at the race and see her accomplish a goal I know she's been working towards for a while.  She'll be rocking out a half marathon in no time I just know it!

One of my best friends and fellow Zeta Kristin ran the race with me too.  Being on a college campus and around all those Zeta's made us want to go back to our Zeta days.  We had never seen the ZTA house at UNC so we drove around to find it.  It was huge, but no where near as cute as our house at ECU.  We did love the Pi Beta Phi houses.  That's right we saw two super cute houses that said Pi Beta Phi!  As a former house manager and treasurer, I can't imagine having two houses!  They were both adorable though!  And the Tri-Sigma house had a sailboat etched on their front door which we thought was awesome.  Oh college days, how I miss you.

It was a fun race and cheaper than other 5Ks I've done.  And I didn't know this before we got there, but you can bring your dog!  I so want Cam to run a race with me!  I think I might do this one again next year.

I still can not let go of missing my 8 mile run.  I was going to try to do it on Sunday but I was too dang tired so I am going to try to do it tonight.  Plus, mentally I need a good long distance run after that disaster on Friday.  I was seriously going to try to get a refund on the half.  I was almost in tears at a couple points.  It was sooo discouraging.  But they don't do re-funds, so I have 4 weeks to get there.  I HAVE to do this.

This weekend I have my very first 10K.  I think the main motivating factor for this race is that there will be Chic-fil-a food at the end of it! I really don't want to think about time because I know I will just disappoint myself.  So maybe my goal will just be to do my best and feel good at the end of the race.

I was going to then try to fit in our 10 mile run next Sunday, but we shall see how I'm feeling after the race on Saturday.  I don't want to over-do it!

Oh why oh why did I get myself into this??