On Saturday night, some friends and I ran the Rock the Crossroads 5K. Because running 3.1 miles in 95-degree Kansas City weather sounds like a blast, right?

Besides the uncontrollable sweatiness, it was fun.

For me, 5Ks are about the fun. I never train for them. I realize that makes me sound snobby, so let me explain ...

When I ran my first 5K in 2004, (holy shiza I just realized that was 10 years ago!) training was necessary. But I've done enough 5Ks over the past 10 (still shocked about that number) years that it's not too challenging for me and I'm more interested in the fun atmosphere than the physical challenge.

(More about my running journey here.)

I know people who can run a half-marathon without training. I'm not there. That requires training. Some of us struggle through a mile and some can whip out a half, no big deal. We all start at level 0 and work our way up. The person who runs a half-marathon like it's nothing isn't a better person than the person who struggles through a mile. They're just at a different level because they've trained more/longer.

So I can run a 5K without training. I can't run a half-marathon without training and I've never run a marathon. Some people might think "I can't even run a mile, how will I ever run a 5K?" But if we all thought like that, none of us would be runners. If I compared myself to my super-fast runner friends, I would feel like a failure. They're awesome. I'm awesome. The person who walked the 5K is awesome.

Now that I've explained my "snobbery" and determined that we are all awesome, back to the Rock the Crossroads 5K.

I surprised myself. It was hot. Real hot. And I had to stop and walk several times. I knew this wasn't going to be a PR for me, but given that I walked several times, I was really pleased with my time. I finished in 27:41. That's about :30/mile faster than my half marathon pace. Woot!

My friends rocked it, too. In fact, two of my friends beat their PRs, which amazes me because OMG HEAT.

This required a little celebration. After the race, we grabbed pizza and wine at SPIN! Pizza before hitting the showers. Because you have to balance out that 5K with some 'za.

Here are some sweaty pics from the race. We look good when we glisten.

Rock the Crossroads 5K (and 5K snobbery)