Well, I did it. I completed my first 5K race.
I’ve been running for some time now, with most of my running on treadmills. I did take a “5K buildup” class from a trainer at the Wellness Center at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, which involved running outdoors. That was a big help. But I found that if I ran alone, I would go too fast and wear myself out, so I preferred using a treadmill to regulate my speed.
On Sunday, April 30, I ran in a 5K race in Shtip, a city in the eastern part of North Macedonia. This wasn’t just my first 5K; it was also my first time visiting a part of the country outside the Tetovo and Skopje areas.
I didn’t injure myself or embarrass myself, so I think it’s a good result. I finished the race with a “chip time” of 34 minutes and 24 seconds. (My “gun time” is 34:46, which means I took 22 seconds to get to the starting line after the race started. With hundreds of people in the race, we couldn’t all be at the starting line at once, and it was crowded enough that we had to walk at the beginning.)
A time of 34:24 is by no means fast, but it’s pretty good for someone’s first 5K race. Also, I was the fastest American in the race! Granted, there was only one other American, but I still beat him by 2 minutes.
It was an interesting experience. I hoped to get some fellow Peace Corps volunteers to join me, and one was planning to, but she realized it conflicted with a plan to visit family. However, another volunteer who lives and works in a nearby city made a day trip to Shtip to wish me well and take photos.
I arrived in Shtip on Saturday and returned on Monday because I figured this would make the experience more pleasant and would allow me to shower right after the race. I’m sure my fellow passengers would not have appreciated being cooped up on a bus with a guy who was covered in sweat.
I’m looking forward to running another 5K during the Skopje Marathon this autumn, and possibly more of them if I can find any in the region. As for the Skopje race, that will happen after the next cohort arrives for training. I’ve already asked that the trainees be allowed to enter the race. This might be tricky since training won’t be in Skopje, but making a request like this well in advance helps matters.