Taking On the Watchung Hills in First 5K [VIDEO]

A little more than 50 runners and walkers turned out for Sunday's 20th annual Watchung Hills Regional Municipal Alliance 5K Run/Walk, including myself in my distance running debut.

The event helps provide the funds the group needs to provide anti-drug, alcohol and bullying programs in the WHRHS sending school districts, including the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program and Project Graduation.

After developing a (semi-) I felt emboldened enough to try my legs at a 5K run and thought participating in one benefitting the alliance would be a great way to start.

My plan was to quickly fall to the back of the pack, and make a move towards the end—it was easy to see runners like overall winner Peter Hyland, of Glen Gardner, were in another league—but I thought I could possibly pull out a "tortoise and hare" kind of come-from-behind finish.

And my plan worked perfectly...for the tortoise part. I finished 38th out the 39 runners—but I was happy I finished.

Check back for a full listing of the participants and how they did.