Hello everyone! I’m pre-drafting and pre-scheduling this post, because at the time I’d normally be publishing it, I’ll be walking a 5K. Yes, another one! There’s a bit of a funny story behind this.

After last week’s 5K, I began looking for others that I wanted to do this spring. I already knew of one in May that my hiking group was planning to do together. I figured three in spring and three in fall would be perfect for 2020. (Forget summer. 100 degrees = no 5Ks.) So I started searching. (Side note: Do you know how hard it is to find accurate information about upcoming 5Ks? There are like five different companies that promote different ones, and the only way I could find to get most of the information in one place was to rely on Google’s event search. Oy.) One of the first races I saw was the Shamrock Shuffle, followed closely thereafter by the Get Your Rear in Gear 5K.

Flashback: In March 2010, I walked my first ever 5K with a group of friends. I had no real concept of the distance of a 5K and had no idea what to expect. Jason and the boys waited at the end as our cheer squad. Our group was slow – we had a couple little kids with us – and I have no idea how long it took us to finish. This was my first taste of 5K events, and the first stirring of my love for them. The event was the Get Your Rear in Gear 5K, its very first 5K event in San Antonio.

(look how cute 30-year-old Jason is!!)

Fast forward to 2011: In January and February that year, I completed Couch to 5K indoors and could now run for 45 mins straight. I signed up for a 5K in March to try to run one officially. A few fellow Sparkers (from Sparkpeople) also signed up for the same 5K. During that event, I discovered that 1) indoor running and outdoor running are very different things, and 2) I was running more up/down (like running in place) than forward. Still, it was my first 5K where I both walked and ran, and I came in with a time of 53:54. Ha. It was also a good marker for me in time/weight – I’d lost 25 lbs at that point from my highest weight. That 5K was the Shamrock Shuffle.

Furthermore, I signed up for a 5K in late March 2011, the Get Your Rear in Gear 5K. I didn’t try to run this one, due to bronchitis, but I walked it with my cousin Jen – the one who just got married on the beach! – while Jason and the boys waited to cheer me at the end.

Those were my first three 5Ks. In 2012, I looked for both the Get Your Rear in Gear and Shamrock Shuffle events. Neither existed, or at least, I couldn’t find them. (See note re: difficulty finding 5K events accurately above.) And I haven’t seen them again in the last decade. So now, I discover that both are happening this March, one of them on my birthday. I’m not ready to walk/run another 5K so close after the last one, but you can bet that in honor of my first 5K in 2010 AND as a personal birthday celebration, I signed up to walk today.

Jason and I are walking this one together. This is pure nostalgia and celebration. Can’t wait to tell y’all all about it!

PS – Not only are we doing this 5K this morning, but my hiking group is getting together for a potluck to celebrate their one-year anniversary. Lucky me to get to celebrate in so many different ways with so many people I love today!