You may be more coordinated than I am, but I have never been successful at drinking while running!! My few attempts really weren't pretty. I STILL have to walk to get a drink. But in the longer races, it's a welcome break anyway.

GREAT time and a great race report!! Thanks for sharing, and CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Congratulations, ladies, on the long-distance runs. I am in awe of both of you. And it sounds so nice to have your friends and family supporting you! I found all the detail interesting. And of good future use. Thanks for taking the time.

On the drinking water thing, I have to say I can run and drink water. (I did not know this skill was in demand!) But I almost never drink as I hate the sloshy feeling and since I run only short distances, I don't have time to get thirsty. I do throw the water on me if it's a hot day. Refreshing. Life-saving.

I ran 6.9 miles this AM. Miserable experience. My asthma is troubling me these days and they had just mowed the grass at the park, so...uggh. On the brighter side, last week I ran the same 5.6 mile loop at a different park 2x in opposite directions. The first time, I got lost (I did have a map) and ended up out of the park, but at least I knew I was lost and there was only one other way to go, so...I knew I should have taken the hint when those ladies in front of me went the other way. Add 4/10 of a mile to the run.

The next time you would think I'd know where I was going, but I made a turn into someone's driveway (it was kind of long, seemed like it should be the turnoff I was looking for). But I realized I was going wrong when I saw the house and realized I did not remember a house from the other day. That was only about 1/10 mile, hardly noticed it. I still had the same map with me, so I'm blaming the map. Sigh...I continue to perform true to form, it's comforting to know I'm so consistent!

Well, anything extra won't hurt me. I am doing a 5K in this same park this weekend. Luckily others will be in front of me to keep me out of trouble.

Jen and Midwife-i read your posts right before my jog today and i was so inspired i went 3 miles which is 1 mile more than i usually can muster the energy to do, THANKS!

Is it about the cups or something? Because I always drink while I run.

Hi...I'm new here, but I'm getting ready to sign up for my first 5K, and I need some advice. It's a women's only run/walk 5K, scheduled two weeks from Saturday. My questions are:

How can I best prepare for a 5K? (besides daily jogging)
What are some tips for the actual 5K?
And...I'm not used to running outside in the cold. What clothes are good?

Hi Collegegirl09,
Your first 5K is only two weeks away, so there's not enough time to build extra speed or endurance over what you've already achieved. But I can offer a few suggestions which hopefully will make your first 5K an enjoyable experience!

-- I would just keep training as you have been, but go easy a day or two before the race. You want your legs to be fresh going into race day.
-- Lay out everything you need the night before the race - clothing, race number (if you have it), etc. That will avoid any last minute scramble to find something!
-- Don't eat anything unusual the day before and the morning of the race. Stick to what you know works well for you.
-- Try to arrive at the race a little early, to allow plenty of time for parking, picking up your packet, last minute potty stop, etc.
-- follow instructions on securing your race number and timing chip. Someone will be there to assist if you have questions.

During the 5K
-- Pick a spot in the starting line up that you feel corresponds to your expected race pace. Please do NOT go to the front, unless you are very speedy!! (You will get run over!!) If you run 8-11 minute per mile pace, then somewhere in the middle is good. If you are slower, then line up more toward the back. Walkers should go to the back.
-- Don't start out TOO fast! It's very easy to get caught up in the race fever and go out way faster than you've trained. Try to keep to your training pace, or just a little faster, or you risk crashing and burning before the end. Race-pacing is definitely a learned skill.
-- Enjoy it! It is your first 5K so it is an automatic personal record! Just being out there and finishing the race is a tremendous accomplishment and you should be proud of yourself!

Living in Florida, I don't have a lot of opportunity to run in cold weather. I would suggest getting good quality, wicking technical-fabric clothing that you can layer and adjust to the conditions. Things like tights or long running pants, long sleeve shirts, jacket / vest, a hat and gloves. But others can advise you better than I can ....

Good luck on your race and let us know how it goes!!

No, I just think it's my general lack of coordination -- trying to run, breathe, AND drink at the same time ...

LOL. OK

collegegirl - have you been running outside already or is all your work on a treadmill? If you have been doing treadmill only, I would say switch to outside runs. As for clothing, wear layers. Get a hat, ear warmers, gloves, thin long sleeve shirt and a light jacket.

I ran this morning and it was around 30 degrees. I wore a pair of compression shorts, a pair of pants, my sports bra (which is thick), a thicker outer layer shirt, sunglasses and a hat. I should've probably wore some gloves but I just made a fist while running. I'm still experimenting a little with what to wear myself.

Someone told me that for running in colder weather to dress as if it were 20 degrees warmer. I've tried this idea and it works, although it's chilly starting out. I usually put on a bit more and shed the layers. But in a race this is probably not possible, so I guess you'd just start out a bit chilled? (I will find out on Saturday, I plan to do a 5K and it's the first one since it's gotten a bit cooler...) And then, when you finish, have more layers to put on to counteract the cooldown, or you'll be shivering.

My hands are always cold so I wear gloves. I got some thin ones that dry quickly and they work well alone or I think I could put them under fleece ones later in the winter. I can see I'll need a hat soon too. But not yet.

I've found that if I drink a pint of Cytomax before I run, I have to drink while running much, much less frequently. So if drinking while running is a problem, check that out.

that sounds interesting... thx!

I ran 7.3 miles tonight and then walked another 1.2 miles. I really think the first 2 miles always seem the hardest. I hope everyone had lovely runs this weekend.

I did my first 5K! Ok, I had some walk breaks. And my time was slow - about 41 minutes. Read on to find out why...

Some friends invited me to do the 5K section of a 10K race as part of a local festival on Sunday morning. I was due to do day 3 of week 5 of C25K (run 20 min continuously), so I figured, why not? Entry fee was $5 which included breakfast!

So we started with the race instructions (turns out the organiser was the fiance of a girl I work with!) and he was telling the 10K runners that at the 3K mark there was a hill that was a bit steeper than it looked. I was kind of tuned out, and thinking "I'm glad I'm just running along the river then turning around and coming back - no hills for me!"

So there I am, running along and minding my own business. And I thought to myself "this hill really is as bad as he said". Then I thought again, but this time it was "if Daniel said the hill was at 3K, and I'm doing a total of 5K, and I'm supposed to turn around at the halfway mark..."

Yep, it doesn't take a mathematical genius to realise that if half of 5 is 2.5 and I was running up the 3K hill, I'd missed the turn! So I turned around to see a guy in a car waving at me.

Apparently I did an extra 750m. So that makes my run 6.5 K instead of 5. Which doesn't make my 41 minutes look quite so shabby!

I was pretty embarrassed, but the organisers were laughing about it. Dan promised not to charge me extra for running further than I was supposed to!

Cheers chickies.

I ran my first 5K of our running “season” on Saturday – the “Spooktacular 5K” at a nearby park. We had been experiencing a period of pleasant fall weather with cooler temps and lower humidity – but last weekend turned oppressively hot and humid as summer refused to let go. The pre-dawn temperature was 79 with about 100% humidity!

Despite the warm weather, quite a few turned out in costume, as we listened to the “Monster Mash” and “Ghostbusters” theme and prepared for the run. We were given glow bracelets, which were welcome as it was still dark when we lined up for the start! A cute little girl sang the national anthem a capella -- she changed key about 12 times during the song, but she was adorable and got a big round of applause.

I had NO idea how I would do, since my last 5K was in April, and I’ve been running slower in the summer because of training for distance and because of training in the heat. I took off strong, but the heat quickly took its toll and I had to slow down a bit after the first mile. Still, I kept it going, and really kicked it during the last .1 mile and finished in a very respectable 26:34 (8:34 min/mile pace). Not my fastest ever, but not that far off either. Considering the heat/humidity factor, I was quite pleased.

Until … I looked at the score board and found I missed 3rd place in my age group by THREE SECONDS!!! And the second place finisher was only 5 seconds faster than that! Had I run 9 seconds faster, I would have been second in my age group. They gave out age group awards only to the top 3, and the trophies were really cute. <pout> Oh well.
On the other hand, just a few short years ago, just FINISHING a 5K was a major accomplishment. I was happy to just not be last, and now I am within seconds of making the top 3 in my age group?? Unbelievable, really. I’m happy!! Plus, I got a banana, a t-shirt, a jack-o-lantern necklace and a glow-in-the-dark bracelet!

Happy running everyone ....