My First 5K

Just how I assumed the pre-race would be. I signed up, paid and got a t-shirt. I had 20 minutes to stretch, relax and prepare myself for my first race ever. Dew was still on the grass. Other runners milling about, stretching, light running. I had participated in sports in high school, college and as an adult, so a little 5K in a Tempe, Arizona park was not going to get me stressed out. As soon as I got to the registration table, the lady looked at me and said, I thought that was you. Surprised that I knew anyone in the race community, I looked at her face and couldn’t place it. Turns out she did some volunteer work with an organization my wife was involved with over 5 years ago. She had even referred a client to me a few years back. I felt bad that I had not remembered her. But, more importantly, I was impressed she remembered my wife and I. Then I started getting nervous. I didn’t plan on winning anything or even place in the top half of runners. But, now it seemed that everyone was a flat belly, young and had been running for way longer than I have. At the start I felt bad that I was in front of runners that would undoubtedly pass me in the first few hundred yards.



I could have been sleeping. It was 7 am. I’m not a morning person. Last Thursday I ran and felt tired. Just two miles of running and I was going to run a 5K on Saturday? I decided that I didn’t want to get up early and run when I wasn’t ready. So, I didn’t pre register. I took Friday off and went to bed thinking I would just sleep in. Then around 5:15 am I awoke. I couldn’t fall back to sleep. The weather was great and I was awake, so I decided to run.

Kiwanis Park in Tempe is an oasis in the desert. A huge lake with boat rentals, soccer fields, softball fields, an indoor wave pool and so much more. Up until today, I had never run in a park. Since I started running this year, I had not done any hills. No running on grass. Heck, I never even ran in the daylight with others. I started in the middle of the pack watching the fast runners take off. I passed some runners to my surprise and some runners passed me. I soon settled in behind a woman and her young daughter. The daughter was full of energy. She jumped up to smack a stop sign and was having a good time. For a moment I thought about hitting the sign too. But, the adult in me decided I needed to conserve my strength. So I slowed down even more. If I was passing people, I was probably going out to fast.

This was the “Run for Brooke”, a small 5K to raise money for an 11 year girl with a rare bone cancer called Osteosarcoma (www.elfpromotions.com). I had lost a cousin (in law) earlier in the year to another sarcoma, so maybe it was Sally waking me up to “Run for Brooke”. I’m proud to be a new member of the running community that gives so much to charities and people like Brooke who really can use our help.


I never knew there was a tunnel under All American Way in the park. What I liked best was there was a water stop right after the tunnel. I had hardly noticed the lake because just ¾ of a mile into the race, I was already a bit tired. I didn’t want to walk early, because I didn’t see anyone else walking. I pushed on until the water stop, got a drink, thanked the volunteers and moved on.

Back in June I started running. Not sure why. I just went out the front door and started running down the street. Did I make it 100 yards? Probably not. I finished walking a mile. But, I was a runner at that point and I knew that I would keep running until I could run for much further distances. How far? I still don’t know. This month I kicked it up a notch. I started run/walking 2, then 3 miles at a time. My times came down from 59 minutes to just at 40 minutes on my 3 mile course.

Now, a mile and a half into the race, I see more people pacing themselves by walking a bit. I do the same as I pass the softball fields were I have played for the past few years. I remember being winded after running the bases. This year will be different. I remember watching the joggers run out past the home run fence and not understanding why they would do such a thing. Now I get it.

The mother that I was following early in the race had kept running when her daughter decided to walk. I was between the two of them. Then I saw the mom jogging back the opposite way. I guess mom’s often do more than the mandatory 3.1 miles. I didn’t see them again until the end.

I saw a man that was about my age and in about the same physical condition. He and I both needed to lose some pounds. He would pass me by and then walk. I would pass him by and then walk. This continued for most of the second mile. Eventually, I didn’t pass him again.

I saw a young man of about 12 walking. He looked like he had hit the wall. Five minutes later he ran pass me like I was standing still. Honestly, I wasn’t. I might have been walking.

Towards the end, as we once again got to run along the lake, I said hi to another runner. She looked at me and said she thought she could run it all. But, it was too hot. It was in the high 80’s at 7:30 in the morning in Arizona. I just nodded. It was hot, even if it is a dry heat.

In the end, I got to run as fast as I could the last 50 yards, as the race organizers clapped and cheered me on. I had finished in an unofficial time of 42:17. And I was happy.

Hopefully, Brooke is too!

116 PAT MONAHAN M 44 57/84 15/17 211 42:15 13:36

The official line for my first 5K. I was 116th out of 234 (walkers included). The 57th male, the 15th 40 yo. My time was two seconds faster than I recorded for a 13:36 per mile pace.