One way to find out if you’re “in” with your boyfriend’s friends? Run a 5K race with them on a Sunday morning—without your boyfriend.

That was the case this past Sunday as I ran my first race since May. Some back story: I’m in a group chat with Josh and his friends (somewhere along the way I was added) and someone suggested doing a 5K together. I was already going to do this particular race, so I sent the sign-up link. Unfortunately, it was a Sunday morning, and Josh would be at work. But the rest of us signed up anyway. 

I’ve been running sort of consistently since I started stress-running over the summer. My times were slower than I was running earlier this year, and I just felt slow, so I was worried going into this race that my time was going to be around 38 minutes.

The race started at 10:00 a.m., and since bib and t-shirt pick-up was happening pre-race, I got there after 9:00—because I’m an overachiever. At first, they didn’t have small shirts, so I got a medium, but later on I was told they “found” the smalls so I swapped my medium for a small. (Side note: In general, there should be a size option called “smedium” because, for the most part, I wear a small but I’d want it to be a little roomier but not quite an entire size bigger.)

While I was waiting for the rest of my crew to show up, I waited inside the restaurant because it was cold. I forgot gloves, and I thought my fingers were going to fall off. Usually, this race is the first weekend in October, so it’s a little warmer; November in New England gets cold and I’m not ready for it. 

They showed up around 9:30, and I went back outside—to stand by the portable heaters set up in the parking lot. There was a pre-race ceremony with the city’s mayor, state reps, and Sullivan’s family.

In the past, the walkers have been sent out first (there’s also a 2 mile walk option), but this year, the runners were sent out first; it was literally “Alright, we’re gonna have the runners go out first, so line up at the starting line… and on your marks, get set, go!” and we were off.

Like I mentioned last year, we were running on main roads, and there were police stationed at every major intersection to direct traffic. I’m out there just trying to put one foot in front of the other—I don’t need to be worrying about getting hit by a car, too.

For the most part, this route is flat; there are a few hills but nothing major. I told myself I would just do my best, and I ended up running the first 2.3 miles without stopping (!!!). Since it was cold, I stopped twice toward the end to catch my breath and breathe into the collar of the pullover I was wearing (to warm up my breath). My running app tells me my time every half mile, and by the end it was looking promising, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up.

My final time was 34:05! I was so happy. Overall, I finished 75th out of 102 runners. Josh’s friends all finished before me, and they were sitting on the grass waiting for me.

We hung around until 12:30ish, and I felt totally comfortable with Josh’s friends. They’ve been welcoming to me since Josh and I started dating, which I appreciate. And it meant we could talk about Josh all we wanted 😉

I thought this was going to be my last 5K race of the year, but… I’m officially that person who runs a 5K on Thanksgiving. There’s a 5K that morning about 15 minutes from where I live, and I’m already signed up for it.