The Corporate 5K was held a little over a week ago and, as promised, I am writing to give you a wrap-up on my participation and results.

This year's race boasted the largest participation in the history of this particular 5K, with over 18,000 runners and walkers, one of those participants, of course, being myself. I did register as a runner but was honest and lined up with "over 25 minute finish time" group. In my training, I never worked up to the point where I could run (or jog) the entire route, not even close. Still, I think my split may have been 40% jogging, 60% walking. (I wouldn't be surprised if it was closer to 30/70.) My final time (not counting the more than 7 minutes it took to actually make my way up to the starting line) was around 51 minutes, 30 seconds. Based on my personal times over the past couple of months, this was my fastest pace.

The race was grueling enough in itself, but what really got to me was the walk to and from the venue. My office is a little over a mile from the starting point of the race. After work, everyone participating from my company walked over together. You might be saying, "Why would you walk over a mile before participating in a 5K?" I had the same thought, but it made sense in that the venue was very congested and trying to drive your car and find a parking space would be a challenge, not to mention costly if you park in a garage.

The problem with walking to the venue, however, is not being too tired to race. It's having to walk back to the office after the race. When I walk/jog at home, I typically travel, at most, four kilometers. It usually takes me a day or so for my legs to recover. By the end of this race, I had been on the move for over seven kilometers. As you could image, my journey back to the office consisted of more limping than walking. A week after the race, my legs and joints were still sore. I should have used one of the rent-a-bikes that are located around town (as did some of my smarter co-workers), however, I did not have the app loaded on my phone and I thought it might take more time to set that up than just suck it up and hobble my way down the street.

As you probably remember, this race was motivation for me to start an exercise program and stick with it. Now that the race is over, what happens to my program? Well, my plan is to continue. The diet is still going well and exercise only helps. I have walk/jogged a couple of times since the race and have added strength training with resistance bands on some of the off days.

Would I do it again? As long as I am physically able, I think I will. In fact, about twice a year there is a road race that passes right in front of my house. I would love to participate in that one, and possibly others. In case you were interested, the fastest time recorded for this year's Corporate 5K was 15 minutes and 49 seconds. My goal for next year . . . be at least 5 minutes closer to that time.

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Terrence