Resolution No. 16 set for March

I always joke with my coworkers that I don't do things if I am not good at them. And there is a little bit of truth to that. Singing karaoke - no thanks. Crossword puzzles - ditto. I stick with the things when I know I have the competitive edge.

So it's a bit out of character for me to be signing up for a 5K since I've never been much of a runner. The problem is not that I don't think I could finish a 5K at a slow pace - I work out quite a bit at the gym and walk a mile a day with the dog - but that I don't want to be the last person across the finish line. I know I will never be the first person across the finish line, but I'd like to end up somewhere in the middle of the group.

When I first started seriously thinking about a doing a 5K in January, I figured I'd do the Stinkin' Roses Run, which is during the summer. I figured it would give me plenty of time to start working up to a faster pace for the three-mile trek. I've been doing just that, using a program on the treadmill at the gym twice a week, and adding on one minute each workout. It's a program that goes 3.8 miles at the fastest pace, but is on an incline so I figured once I got on flat terrain I would be better conditioned to run at a faster pace.

But then someone my mom works with started talking about a Wildflower Walk in March. They have a group of people, most of who I know, signed up already. They talked my mom and I into registering for it. So now I have a month to prep.

Today at the gym I tried to see how long it would take me to run a mile at a faster, flat pace. I set the treadmill on a 5K run setting and it started out well. But soon the treadmill was kicking the speed up to 6.6 miles and I couldn't keep up. I slowed it down to 5.3, ran for about 10 minutes, then slowed down for a couple minutes and speed up again. I ran 1.5 miles in 21 minutes, which should be quite an accomplishment considering how out of shape I was a few months ago. But I am not sure it's enough for my competitive streak.

I'll just have to continue the training and see how it goes. And maybe I'll just plan to beat my time in the March run at the July one to fulfill my need to do everything well.