5K time...What's Yours?

Okay, I really want to participate in a 5K.  I live in Houston so there are tons every weekend.  BUT, I'm scared.  I'm super competitive and like to win, I know I'm not gonna win, but I don't want to SUCK completely.  What would be a good 5K time goal for me to set for myself to be ready to participate in an actual race and NOT suck. 

Any advice (not sugar coated..."just do the best you can") would be appreciated.

The First Goal is Signing up for a 5K.
The Second Goal is crossing the start line.
The Third Goal is crossing the finish line.

Who cares about your time for a first 5K it will be a Personal Record no matter what your time is.  I am far from fast but I make sure I enjoy every 5K I run no matter how miserable the course may be.  I have run a couple 5Ks with Bill from this board who is much faster than I am but he has also been doing it a lot longer, it doesn't bother me that he is finished before me, but having him give me a congrats at the finish line is worth it.

I have come to learn that I will be able to run faster anf farther but it will only come with training and it is a slow process. 

Find a race and enjoy it!  Thats what this life is about is enjoying things, things we never dreamed we would even try much less succeed.

Good Luck!

well, you can see my 5k times in my signature.  I recommend finding an event you are interested in and then checking the previous years results.... the more people who participate, the more likely you are not to "suck". 

Also, because 5Ks are usually the shortest around, there are often plenty of walkers, which can mean that people are finishing from 15 minutes all the way to an hour and 15 minutes.

The next 5K i run I hope to be around 30 minutes.  I don't seem to like fast running, so a sub 30 plenty fast for me.

Love your new avatar pic, Paul!
I have seen so much progress from this time last year. I really think I'm ready, I'm just scared of being embarrassed.

I will participate in a 5K this year, it's my new goal and I'm super excited!

Thanks for all of your support.

Thanks!

You will come to learn that runners for the most part are some of the nicest and most supportive people out there.  Yes you may find a couple aholes but in my experience they are few and far between. 

In my opinion you can't suck at doing any event, simply because you are doing it.  Yes these words will come back and haunt me as I struggle through my next swim, but it is true.

If you want my first 5K was 47 minutes and I was far from last.

I whooped that 80 year old granny! J/K 

Paul I barely beat Sister Madonna Bruder in my first and only 70.3 triathlon to date.
How embarassing to almost get beaten by a lady who is 47 years older than me.

It happens.  She tears it up!!! hahaha

Scott

Every time you do something for the first time, you have set a record!
The second race is the one where you can compete against yourself.

If you really want to see some times, look at past race results for people your age.
Many of the races that run every year keep a list of past race results online.

Now remember some, many, all, of the other participants may have been running for many years, very few if any of them were obese. 

Have you run a 5k on your own?  If not go out and run one some night after work, or on a weekend.
Then you can compare to past race results.

I know I am super competative like you and I get down on myself when I don't perform as well as everyone else.  It's hard not to compare.  But if it takes you 30, 35, 40 minutes this time, then you have a goal to work for.  You will know how you did, and can start training to improve that.

Here is an example from our local race.  We had 120 women registered for this race.
The fastest was a 17 y/o who finished in 18 minutes.  The slowest was a 48 y/o who finished in 75 minutes.
The two biggest pack of finishers were in the 20-25 minute range 32 finishers and the 26-35 range 49 finishers.

Based on your age listed on your profile page you would have run with the 30-35 y/o women.
Their times ranged from 20:58 to 49:49 with the middle of the age group pack finishing in 28:12
That is just based on finish position.  There is a big time jump between that 28:12 finisher and the next finisher.  The next finisher was almost 6:30 behind her.

I'm not fast, never going to be fast.  I don't like it enough to put that kind of effort into it.  I generally shoot for having a good time and trying to finish in the middle third of the pack.  For this race that would have been a time from 25:53 to 36:23.

There are a lot of different ways to look at results.  Time, finish, finish in relation to age group.  Heck I even broke down my triathlon to sex, age, state, county, city, guys who used to weigh 400+ pounds.  I knew I was going to win one of those categories.

Good luck.

My next 5k is actually sponsored by the hospital I had my surgery. They are having an award category for support group members m/f. If Chad doesn't show up I actually may have a shot.best part is all of the surgeons will be running too.

That is absolutely awesome!!!

when is that one?