For those of you who are runners....some questions

Many runs ask the runner to ask people to sponsor their run to raise money for their charity.

I am running 3553k in nine months to raise money for my 3 month mission trip to Nicaragua next year. So running in a race where I have to ask people for more money just isn't fair.

Ok running outside is so much different than running on a treadmill. If you want to do a race in Sept than you will really need to get out there and do some running.  I would look for a race in Oct. and really get out there and run. I would not worry about coming in last. All that matters is you did it. I did my first 5k in 37 minutes. When I did my 10k I did 10 and 1 which you could do also. Believe it or not you can be faster that way than running straight through.  One way to make yourself faster in running is to do one day of sprint running. It does work. Wait to you start running in the snow that is always so much fun. Good Luck and let me know if you do the race.

my opinion is just sign up now and make the commitment! I took a running course in April and signed up for my first 5K and it was just about three weeks after starting my course! I did not do my first 5K all running either. I took quite a long time over 40 min. but that's not a big deal. One thing you can do is you can look up the results online of different 5K races and see the different times of finishers from last year. I joined one race that had a lot more competitors and they were all different times so going into it I knew that I would not be the dead last one. Your first time is your "before" time that you are going to build upon so don't sweat it!

 Marnie, I agree with Dawn.  Commit!  If you can run your 5k in 30 minutes you are great!!  I ran my first race in over 41 minutes last.  First two races actually.  Now I am between 31 and 34.  That puts me around the middle of the pack.  I would worry about your time.  

Read the quote in my signature line:  The miracle isn't that I finished.  The miracle is that I had the courage to start.  

The race is about you, not about anyone else!

I think you can be ready for an outdoor 5k in a few weeks since you are already doing it indoors quite easily.  Run three days a week and you're laughing!!

Good luck and keep us posted.

Sue

So I went ahead and just signed up for a Running Room 5k clinic and have convinced my hubby to join with me.  We start tomorrow morning.  The great things is that at the end, there is a run that you participate in, so I'll get to see what it is like and then try out more races when I am more confident.  If it is too easy a clinic, I may just transfer over to the 10k clinic.  We'll see how it goes.  I am really excited :)