Our First 5K in Managua

or 2.64 miles according to Pete's GPS, but if the shirt says 5K, I'm fine with that. Yes, today we *ran* our first  5K here.  I'm not sure when Pete last ran one, but my official recent race (not counting the umpteenth times I've finished the C25K), was  in late 2011.  Sigh.

I've been meaning to sign up for one here, if nothing else as motivation, but I end up not necessarily hearing about them until too late (as in, I need 9 weeks notice to do another C25K) or we are out of town, have an activity, the list goes on.  Finally, I heard about one the past few weeks, and there was going to be a team from the embassy.  I thought about it, forgot about it, remembered, and finally said, "To heck with it, I'm doing it," even if doing it means walking quickly for a bit.  

I'd dillydallied so much that we missed the online sign-up, but the website assured us because it was a free run, that didn't matter. Sure enough, to their credit, it was amazingly easy. We signed up with our names and ages and received our free, very fitted t-shirt, and we promptly switched out our shirts for those.  I was even given in a compliment in said shirt, so a good day right there. 

After a bit of chatting and a few warm-up exercises, we were off!  I had no idea of the route, and was pleased to see since the roads were not completely blocked off, that the police were directing traffic. Part of the path had us running in one lane, while traffic was in the next, however, the cars were mindful and the route was one I would never normally get to run.  I'm hoping a future race will go along the same route, as I'd love to take photos.  We ran just along one side of Laguna de Tiscapa, and could view the statue of Sandino as we trudged  flew along.  The air was clear, no dust, and the heat was not yet too much (generally anything past 8 a.m. can be a wee bit hot…doable, but very, very hot).

I'm not sure of my exact time, as I left Pete in the dust (if you will) about halfway through.  I did a rough calculation and fairly sure that of the 2.64 miles, I ran at least two miles, if not a bit more.  Not going to win me a medal, I know, but a good workout, and we both remembered that 5Ks (especially early a.m.) can be fun!  I was a bit nervous about the whole thing since my latest C25K went a bit wonky a few weeks ago, but this morning put me back on track…now just to find our next race (and maybe I will actually time myself in that one…).