Yesterday morning I had the opportunity to participate in the 5K fun run/walk portion of the Fargo Marathon. I had never witnessed the start of a marathon before, so it was very inspiring to see thousands of people begin their 26.2 mile trek across the city of Fargo, including my friend (and former supervisor), John Gieser. Someday, I hope to be one of them.
But for now, I’m taking my time to increase my endurance and speed. I’ve been running every other day on our treadmill since the beginning of January, so I’m able to do 4.5 – 5 miles on it without much of a problem. Running outside, on pavement, is a completely different story, of course. I only had a single chance to go running on the highway that goes by our house before yesterday’s race, and it was a reality check.
Thankfully, the weather (especially the wind) cooperated yesterday morning, helping the 3.2 miles feel like it took only about 10 minutes. According to data recorded on my Nike + iPod setup, I lost about over a minute in my mileage pacing from beginning to end, but I’m extremely happy with my results.
Here are my official results:
- 608th overall (out of 3,722 finishers)
- 53th out of 120 in my division (males age 25-29)
- 403th out of 1,139 males
- Time: 27 minutes, 49 seconds
- Pace: 8 minutes, 57 seconds per mile
So what’s my next goal? Training for a half marathon. I’ll be sure to keep you posted on how that goes!