Two weeks ago I embarked on my first 5K race in seven years. Throughout junior high and high school, I competitively ran cross-country and track. After heading off to college, however, I decided to take a hiatus, trying out different exercises I never got to do when my days were solely filled with running and ab workouts. I enjoyed some years cycling and lifting weights.

And while I began to take up running again after I finished college, I only ran slow and for fun, never intending to go beyond these 3- and 4-mile runs while listening to music.

But my father (a former runner himself who once ran for the World Cross-Country Championships) encouraged me to register for Jacksonville’s annual Run for the Pies, a race going back several decades. Hosted in downtown Jacksonville, this race saw more than 800 runners take to the starting line.

Unfortunately, we were still in the midst of our second heatwave. Even though the race was at 7:30 p.m., temperatures were still more than 91 degrees Fahrenheit. Plenty of water and ice could be found around the start and finish lines.

I had no idea how I was going to run. I didn’t fully intend to “race,” both because of the heat and because I didn’t warm up or stretch, treating this perhaps as a run where I might go a little faster than my ordinary, daily run, but nothing more.

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To put it briefly, it was baking outside. Seventy percent of the course was running into the sun, still high in the sky (I had hoped some of the tall buildings would give us some shade, but the course seemed to find the roads only in the sun). Water stations provided temporary relief at each mile, which I sipped some and dumped the rest on my head and face to cool off.

I ended up finishing in about 28 minutes, something I was slightly bummed about, as I’ve run far faster on easy runs on my own. Granted, I would never choose to run in such heat on my own, so I had to take this time with a grain of salt. Electrolyte popsicles and a medal waited for me at the finish line, as well as free beer (which I could not get myself to drink right after my run, the heat making me feel nauseous).

I was proud of myself for taking my first step back into the running world in terms of 5Ks. I think, however, my next 5K will be when the weather is just a bit more forgiving.

— Aoife O’Riordan, associate editor