I made a last minute decision last Friday to run the San Patricio (Saint Patrick’s) 5k last Sunday. This race has been organized by the San Patricio mall in Guaynabo for 29 years to raise funds for the Children’s Hospital in Puerto Rico. 

When I said I was going to do this, I figured it was just in the area surrounding the mall, so I didn’t worry, until I got warned by three people that there was a long hill. I kept thinking about the surroundings of the mall and couldn’t  think of any hills close to the mall, except for the highway, but  I doubted they would close the highway for a 5k. 

I have started to like running uphill because I like the challenge, it makes me want to run faster and if it’s just one hill it’s ok. It did worry me a little when the third person to warn me was my coach. He was not trying to scare me, just giving me good advice, he told me to take it easy because there was a hill, and that’s just what I did. 

The hill

When I finally realized what they were talking about, it wasn’t that bad because I did what my coach told me, I took it easy. I didn’t try to rush myself up the hill and I did the best I could to keep the same pace my coach instructed me to when I do long runs on the weekend. Sadly, this was still not good enough to even get near my fastest time, but I did do a little better than the week before. My time was 40:05. 

I don’t know what happened, how I went from completing a 5k in 34 minutes to going back to over 40 minutes like I did back in October. I am disappointed but still working very hard to getting that number down again. Maybe three races in one month was too much, or maybe it’s just not having done one of my  Saturday runs because of all these races and volunteering. 

I was hoping going on vacation next week and relaxing will help for my next race but I ran five miles in 68 minutes this morning, which is pretty good for me.

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Published by mariacristinasanfeliu

I’m an aspiring writer still looking for exactly what I want to write about, with a lot of creativity, imagination and desire to write. I studied Writing and Rhetoric at Syracuse University where I explored many different sides of writing through my classes and extracurricular activities in order to narrow my search for an identity as a writer. I have written for Citrus TV Noticias and La Voz magazine, both of which gave me the chance to explore different mediums in which to write in. Through Citrus TV Noticias I also gained experience in translating from English to Spanish and vice versa, which is also something that I would be interested in working on since I am fluent in both of these languages. I was also an intern at Syracuse University Press where I got hands on experience in what goes into actually editing and publishing a book. Through out the last four years I have faced a lot of challenges, which helped chape the person I am today. After being in a tragic car accident, being in comma, having a Traumatic Brain Injury, and being in therapy for over a year, I am a new me, willing to face challenges and knowing how to deal with them. I want to write about my accident and life after it to help others, show them it can be done and help in any way I can.

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