Dash for Donation 5K at Sugarhouse Park. Jake helped to organize this race and signed me up a couple months ago. I was actually pretty worried about running it because of so much travel, only short runs, and some abdominal pain recently. When Jake and I ran the course on Thursday, I thought that under 20:30 would be reasonable. Two laps around Sugarhouse Park is not an easy 5K course! I ran a short 1 mile warm-up and a couple strides prior to the race. Jake decided to run with me which always helps me run a little harder. After the first half mile, my breathing was already pretty labored - not surprising as I haven't run faster than 7:45 pace in 2 months since the last 5K! Came through the first mile in 6:12 then really started struggling after 1.5 miles. I do think the downhill portions of the race helped keep me going and let my breathing recover quite a bit. The second mile was 6:17 and then we caught up to one of Rob's runners. Jake started casually talking to him, asking him questions and such - apparently he doesn't remember how hard racing a 5k is, not to mention talking during a race! So naturally I told him to shut up :) I tried to pick it up for the last mile and hit 6:00 with :31 for the last 0.1 miles. Right before the finish I saw the clock ticking towards 19 and really tried to get in the 18s but ended up right at 19:00...reminded me of my fastest marathon, half marathon, 5k, etc. I just can't seem to get timing quite right! I am very happy with my performance. I know it's not even close to the level I was at a few years ago, but it felt great to be able to run that fast again. I am already sore from the race so I know I was working pretty hard out there. I'll probably run another 5K in two more months just to see how much I improve by more running. I've still got a lot of work to do on my rehab as my adductors and psoas are still not strong enough. But I'm getting there, slowly making progress every month. | 
