My first 5K

Well I survived running my first 5K. It was the Daffodil Dash 3 miler at the Memphis Botanical Gardens. It was a gorgeous day. We couldn't have asked for nicer weather especially considering there was a chance of rain. It in the 60s though and sunny.

I didn't run as much of it as I would have liked to and my time wasn't great (41 minutes) but I had fun and that's all that matters to me. I made a friend pretty early in the race. We started near the entrance of the gardens on Cherry Road and ran towards Poplar. 

I started out pretty strong. Just after I rounded onto Poplar Southern I noticed a little boy running next to me (probably about 9 or 10 years old). I had my headphones in so I hadn't realized he was talking to me. I took  out one headphone to hear him tell me he was there with his grandma who was way behind us and Suzanne who was way ahead of us.

They had one lane of Poplar closed off for us to run in but the other lane was open for traffic. My running buddy started jumping over the cones that were straddling the open and closed lane. I tried to warn him that there might be cars coming so he should move away from the line. I looked around to see if I could see if there was anyone close that might be with him but didn't see anyone that seemed to be looking for him so I decided to stay close to make sure he didn't get run over.

It turned out he was a fun running buddy. He had asthma so periodically when he would start coughing we would have to take walking breaks. He told me all about his family and school and he pretty much talked my ear off the whole race but it was kinda nice to have someone to walk and run with.

As we rounded back into the gardens we caught up with my friends from the gym. Danielle had been just ahead of me most of the race and April had already finished (in under 24 minutes, 1st in her age group, way to go April!) April came back around to run in with me which was really nice so the 4 of us ran (with some walking) in together.

I never got the name of my running buddy. I think he found his family right after we crossed the finish line which was good. We had a good time. I enjoyed the exercise, weather, and the company of some great people.