I slayed my 5K goal this morning. After a six-year absence from running races, I am back!!! I’d be lying if I said it felt fantastic, but it didn’t feel terrible either. Perhaps the worst part of running a 5K is having to get up before the sun rises on the weekend. After years of doing that for hockey, I quite enjoy sleeping in on Saturday. Nevertheless, I left my house just before 6:00 this morning.

To train for the 5k, I’ve been doing 45-minute treadmill workouts through Apple Fitness. I was nervous that the training wouldn’t translate to the road, but fortunately, it did. I think before my next 5K, I’ll throw an outdoor training run in there. Thankfully, cooler weather should arrive shortly, making outdoor training possible.

As for the run itself, the first mile was horrible. The entire time, I was questioning my sanity. Honestly, who tortured themselves like this? As mile one ended, however, I found my rhythm and started to feel pretty good. Miles two and three were slower than mile one, but they felt comfortable. I grabbed a water bottle at the first water table. Thankfully, I was able to store it in my leggings pocket when I wasn’t drinking.

As I came to the finish line, I felt like I had more in the tank. Importantly, I only almost threw up once after the run. Thankfully, I didn’t. After finishing, I walked for fifteen minutes to cool down my legs and lungs. Next time, I’m not going to stop running at the finish. I’ll slow down gradually before walking it out. This should prevent me from getting sick. I’ll In the end, I took second place in my age group. My time was just over thirty-two minutes, which was better than I anticipated.

2025 Goal Tracker:

• Run a 5K: achieved! The new goal is to finish in under 32 minutes at the next 5K.
• Complete Kayla Itsines program: finishing 2.0 this week!
• No afternoon Starbucks (except for travel/vacations): I made it into September and haven’t buckled!
• Top performer at work: on it!
• Travel: went to Vegas, but lots of work to do here. I’m tickled pink that we’ll be going back there in October to see Paul McCartney
• Eat to lower inflammation: in progress
• Read daily: in progress. I finished Pride and Prejudice on Saturday and am now reading Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
• Get out of debt: in progress, but still poor
• Financial independence: in progress, but still opt
• If you’re not already following me on Instagram, give me a follow!
• ’Check out my newest partner, Zulay Kitchen. You can use the code Welcome43 to get 43% off.

What’s your all-time favorite album?

Oh man, this is a hard one. I think after looking at this through multiple prisms, Green Day’s Dookie is my favorite album. It was one of the first CDs I had and has influenced my musical taste ever since.