— 1 —

Tomorrow I run my first official 5K! It’s the Take Your Base 5K at Coney Island. The course is up and down the boardwalk and then around the bases at the field where the Brooklyn Cyclones play. It ends at home plate. How cool is that?!

We spent a couple of days at the beach at Coney Island last year. This will be the first time we’ve seen it since Sandy. I’m excited to see it all back in action!

— 2 —

I wanted to run this week to prepare, but the crazy heat, threat of afternoon thunderstorms, my lack of sleep, and the fact that Jacob had a rough reaction (probably due to pollen) the one time we did go out, I’ve run a total of 2.5 miles this week. Eek.

I’m still not sure whether my goal should be to run it in under 35 minutes or under 30. I consistently run the 3.33 miles around Prospect Park in 40 minutes, but this course is much flatter . . . and I won’t be pushing something like 90 pounds in front of me. Just finishing should be good enough, right?

— 3 —

My post-run drink of choice is cold lemon-lime Gatorade. I bought one for Saturday and am so excited to see it hanging out in the fridge!

— 4 —

When I run, I invariably want to quit when I’m on any kind of uphill. I should expect some incline in a place called Park Slope, but it still surprises me every time. When I get back to a downhill or a flat area, I think I can go twice as far as I’ve set out to complete.

Maybe my running mentality will get less erratic as I get stronger (or better rested). Maybe not. For now, the better part of running is knowing that I accomplished something—not the accomplishing itself—and that’s okay.

— 5 —

I plan to wear the t-shirt I get from this race all. the. time. Good thing we have a washer/dryer now, or I’d be stinky by week’s end.

— 6 —

I got a little too excited about my new hobby and jumped at the idea to run a half marathon when a friend suggested it (thanks, John!). I even mentioned it to my John, who said he’d do it, but I think was secretly noting that I was/am crazy. Fortunately, before I signed us up, I realized that we have no Saturday mornings to train. There’s too much to do on the house to take anything else on. Hopefully we’ll find a 10K we can run together in the fall or next spring.

— 7 —

In my researching races, I came across the Hot Chocolate 5K/15K in Chicago. I’ve never been to Chicago, so this would be fun, but the timing won’t work this year. No worries. I can make any run a hot chocolate run on my own in NJ, right? Inspiration for my next uphill!

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