Cleary I am not ready to Run Around the Square

After almost two weeks off, this morning I ran my new route around my neighborhood. I was pretty sure if I had a knife, I could have cut the humidity with it (it was over 90 percent), which made the run quite challenging.

When I run, I get very sweaty. On top of that, I breathe pretty heavily too. I kept thinking about those two things since I finally signed up for a 5k; can't wait for everyone to see and hear scary-looking me!

But really I am much more concerned about how I will do in the race, the Regent Run Around the Square, which is now less than two weeks away (yes, I finally signed up for a 5k!). I know I am not as prepared as I need to be. I really should be running twice a week, and today marked 13 days since my last run. I could "train" like this at 34, but at 38, I am not so sure.

After a few months of running during the school year, I decided I wanted to run a 5k in the spring, and my goal time was under 30 minutes. But since I have not been running as I had been, I think I am going to have to shoot for a more realistic 32 minutes. (Today, I finished my just over 2.6-mile run in 28 minutes exactly.) And that bums me out. I know it is just a number, and the way I felt today, my goal should probably be to finish the race without walking, but I have to aim higher.

For the record, when I ran the Run Around the Square in 2002, I finished in 28:14, and that was when I was in great shape. Yeah, I might just have to hope for 35 minutes...