Torchlight 5K Race

I was determined to run the torchlight 5K after hearing everyone rave about it last year. It starts at the Basillica church and ends at the St. Anthony main neighborhood.

So, when I signed up for this in May, I asked Mike if he would run it with me… he promptly made a joke about how I would  have to keep up with him. He asked if I could run an 8 minute mile… what? No, of course I can’t. We bargained and I told him I would train and attempt to get to a 10 minute mile pace! Thus began Hal Higdon’s 5K training program.

I’ve decided a few things on running:

1. It’s impossible for me to run the entire time without water in my hand – I walked a portion of both the 5K go commando race and the color run 5K, but ran every minute of the torchlight
2. I can no longer run without knowing how far I’ve gone – my Garmin is becoming invaluable – plus, I found that the Garmin is far more accurate than the flags at the actual race… strange, right?
3. Salted nut rolls officially mean I have accomplished something – random, I know. The only three races I have ever ran have all ended with piles of salted nut rolls, and I now associate the two! I’m contemplating buying a Costco sized portion of the mini ones so I can eat them after my runs!

Anywho, my goal (or so I told people) was to run it in under 35 minutes. But, my real goal was to run it in under 33 minutes. I wasn’t sure how I would do, so I was nervous about saying it out loud.

Turns out, I totally shouldn’t have been worried…

Booyah! Mike makes me run fast as it turns out! I like that about him. Below is us at the beginning of the race.

Once again I have an adorable cheerleader… the soon to be one year old Lukas himself! (Sorry it’s a blurry photo!)

Oh and my mom found a video online of us crossing the finish line and sent me this screen shot… my favorite part is that I’m completely focused on pushing that stop button on my garmin! (We’re on the left!)

Next up:
Runner’s World half marathon training program and the Monster Dash 10 mile race in October! After that a half marathon in April in Nashville – I have so many food bloggers I must meet when I’m there!!