HMT: Days 7 & 8

Day 7 was 5K day! The 5K that I ran was Kaiser Permanentes First Annual Running of the Elk held in Elk Grove, CA. This race had a half marathon, a half marathon relay and the 5K.

Kaiser Permanentes First Annual Running of the Elk

I think I summed up my first 5K experience best when I Instagram’d a photo of me and my brother immediately after the race:

"JR: #2913 (22:47:36; 8th place). Gordon: #1936 (22:43:00; 7th place).... One of the best experiences of my life. I know it's just a 5K (~3 miles), but there was more to it. There was a mental component to it that I didn't really expect. Within the first 5 minutes I was like "wtf did I get myself into?! This a pretty fast pace!! I don't think I could do this"... But then I just kept running... S/o to my brother Gordon for running this with me. This is my first of many races!! Thank you Lord for today and thank you Lord for the opportunity and the ability to participate in this. All of this is yours and I hope you enjoyed this race as much as I did. Happy Palm Sunday everyone!" - Instagram: iamjohnross

And if you have an Instagram, please follow me at: iamjohnross

Here are a few souvenirs from yesterday. Another thing I didn’t expect after my first official race: loving all the free stuff you get when you complete the race. I could see this becoming a big reason why I run; I’ve always loved collecting stuff. I can’t wait for my first medal!

Souvenirs from the 5K

Day 8 was a “Stretch and Strengthen” Day. So today I spent a good 30 minutes on the foam roller, SMRing my IT, my quads, my ADductors, my calves, and my piriformis. I also did a good amount of static stretches after my strength training. My strength training consisted of 2 back, 2 shoulder, and 2 tricep exercises…… oh yea, and 1,000 bicep curls.

"Oh, I can barely lift my right arm 'cause I did so many." - Ron Burgundy

And one last thing: I found out yesterday from my friend at Racing the States that Caballo Blanco was found dead yesterday. I don’t want to say too much other than this: thank you, Caballo, for inspiring me to run, but more importantly thank you for inspiring me to be a better human being. If you’ve never heard of him before, please take some time to read up on his life.

Caballo Blanco

I hope all your weekends were awesome and I hope this week goes well for you all! Work hard! Cheers!