I am in suck-tastic shape.

My buddy Hawk and I did a 5K yesterday. It was a contrast in approaches. His worked, mine didn't.

I haven't been very diligent about getting out and running, or biking, or swimming. I've been sporadic at best. It's definitely not a recipe for staying in good cardiovascular shape...I don't think running the bases in softball counts as a good workout - although I do get winded from it.

Anyway, Hawk has been keeping up with his runs, and setting 5K PRs periodically. I have been drinking beer and thinking I should get out and hit the bricks, but not doing it - and it shows.

The 5K was a benefit for Habitat for Humanity, organized through the U of I Business School. It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm, and the run was on a nice grass course on the Illinois campus. I think the course might be used for cross-country...there were some signs designating kilometers that didn't make any sense for our run. There was a little bit of water/mud on the course leftover from our wet spring weather, but nothing really uncommon for this time of year in central IL.

I was a little bit tentative about running. I had been to both a wedding and a birthday party the day/night before and partook in a few libations to celebrate each event. I made sure I was moderating, but I was still out until 2am.

The run started just after 10, maybe about 15 minutes late. It was casual, so no problems with a late start. The course was two loops, marked with pink arrows, and staffed by volunteers at each of the turns. There was a big hill at around mile 1.25, which repeated on loop 2...ugh.

As expected, I struggled a bit. Grass is always slower than the pavement, and wet grass slower still. Combine this with my lack of fitness and it's a run/walk 5K....I took a couple of 30 second walk breaks and tried to keep my pace reasonable for the running portions.

Hawk ran a good race, he didn't PR, but ran strong the whole time. I think I may have set a PR for my worst 5K :-)

I had fun and I was glad I got out for a run on such a nice day. I'm looking forward to working myself back into shape and getting back to an acceptable level. I guess now I have a baseline to compare to at the end of the season.