I am a 5K runner... kind of

Last year, I worked like crazy for several months to run a 5K, which I did in October. It was great! Since then... well, I've not been as diligent in my exercising, and I definitely would only be able to run 5K right now because I would force myself... but it would not be pretty.

So the annual 5K I participate in is coming up in 5 weeks, and I'd love to run it again. So, I'm forcing myself to get to the gym 3 times a week between now and then so I can at least say I've given it my best shot. I want to be able to say "I am a 5K runner" not just "I ran a 5K once."

I have a friend who is training for a 10K right now, and another friend who is training for a marathon. A marathon! Part of me - OK, nearly all of me - cringes at the thought. Seriously, this 5K (3 mile) thing is hard for me, I'd have to be completely nuts to try 26.2 miles. (YOU, marathon friend, YOU are NOT nuts. You are amazing and inspiring. Sanity judgments are reserved for me only.)

But a little part of me, this voice in the back of my head, wonders if I could do it too. This is the same voice that watched the finish of the women's triathalon during the last summer Olympics and wished I was a brilliant enough athlete to win something that amazing. Probably not, but it's fun to dream a little. Sometimes a crazy dream is the thing that gets me through the last 5 minutes of my puny training run at the gym.

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Originally posted at: http://rebeccasmiscellanies.blogspot.com/

5K Race for the Cure

I guess October's turning out to be kind of cause-focused month, although I didn't plan it that way. Today I ran the local Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, an event I've participated in for a number of years. At some point I decided it would be really cool to run instead of walk in this event, and promised myself "next year, I'll be out here running across the finish line!"

Well, it took three years or so, but finally, I achieved that goal! The running is something I've wanted to do for me, but this event is about fighting breast cancer. Choosing this event for my first 5K is about a lot of other people. This is for you:

Aunt Joan & my friend Marcia, two very special ladies who lost the fight to breast cancer.

Aunt Pat, Aunt Mary, Aunt Jody, Kay, Ruth & Shirley, all great women who beat the odds and successfully fought the fight.

And for Jilliann, who just started her fight - hang in there! I'm cheering for you!

"You Go, Girl!"

I've gotten pretty sloppy at keeping up my exercise routine these last few weeks. I sort of lost focus once I'd hit the 3-mile point. Although I have the 5K in about 7-8 weeks, I haven't figure out quite how to prepare for it from here. Although I can run 3-miles, I can't consistently do it, and I don't want race day to be an "off" day where I can't finish. I need to do some research on that to figure it out.

This morning, I forced myself to get out there and run, and got about 2 miles in before I slowed to a walk. As I approached the 1.5 mile mark, I was having an internal debate, trying to decide if I should stop there or go for the full 3 miles. As I jogged and debated, a cyclist passed me and called out "You Go, Girl!" A perfect stranger who decided to cheer me on gave me a boost of determination to keep going. I didn't make 3 miles today, but I felt good about sticking it out a little longer.

Random acts of kindness are a gift! Thank you, Ms. Cyclist, you made my day.

14 weeks, 33 minutes and 3 Miles

Finally! I did it! I felt like doing a dance of joy and shouting really loudly, but I held back. The golf course where I do my jogging is pretty quiet at 7:45 in the morning, and I didn't want to disturb any residents or hotel guests. The last 10 days or so, exercise of any kind has been an iffy proposition, as my knee has been bothering me. I don't think I injured it, but it's been painful off and on. Oddly, it doesn't hurt to walk or run, but I've been taking it easy in general to try and allow it to get better.

So, now that I know I can endure 3 miles if I want to and I'm feeling good and the stars are aligned and it's not too hot or too foggy or too humid and I wake up on the right side of the bed... I have 12 weeks before I actually run a 5K race to improve to the point that I can tackle the race with confidence. I'm not expecting to place or anything, I just want to finish. I've been saying for several years that "next year I'm going to run in this race," and it feels really good that this year I'm finally going to be ready to do it!

2 Miles and Holding

Over the last couple of weeks, I've been trying to increase my jogging from one mile to two miles. The running plan I've been following does this in a mere one or two weeks. I'm at about four. Four weeks times three workouts equals 12 times I've laced up my shoes and attempted to run two miles without feeling like I'm going to die. I'm not there yet. I have to convince myself that I can do anything for just 15 minutes... 10 minutes... 5... 4... 3.... And somehow I'm supposed to be increasing by a quarter mile each week until I get to three miles. No way. Ain't happening.

So I'm throwing the schedule out the window. I can only take so much failure to meet expectations before getting completely discouraged. So for now, it's just going to be 2 miles, 3 times a week. I'm hoping that by repeatedly subjecting my body to this self-imposed torture, I will eventually fool myself into thinking that I'm actually capable of more. Maybe one day, I won't be checking the stopwatch constantly and I'll just accidentally run 5 extra minutes. Or maybe, without explanation, I will one day experience "runner's high" and feel inspired to go after that third mile.

I'm still planning to run a 5K in October, and I still have three months to train. Good thing I planned on lots of extra time to get ready.

1 Mile

I ran a mile today! Well, OK, I ran a half mile twice, not the whole mile all at once (in the interest of full disclosure.) I hated pretty much every minute of it until I could sit down at the end and say "I did it!" It didn't help that I'm trying to break in a new pair of shoes, and they repaid me by rubbing a blister on my heel. Arghh. But until the blister cut my workout short, they did feel vastly better than my tired old pair of shoes.

So why am I putting myself through this agony? Every October, I participate in the Race for the Cure, and I've always walked the 5K route. But every year, I tell myself that one of these times I'm going to actually run the race. Not to compete for a prize, but just for the satisfaction of doing it. But having to start from, well, not running at all was a bit challenging. So in my belief that if it isn't on the internet, it doesn't exist, I did a Google search and found the Couch to 5K Running Plan.

The Plan gets you running the 5K in 30 minutes over a nine week training schedule. I'm allowing myself extra time because I've actually tried this before and reached week 5 before some knee pain became my excuse to quit. This time around, I'm doing most of the workouts 4 times instead of the 3 they recommend, so it will probably take more like 12 weeks.

Today was my first workout in the dreaded week 5. Although hating it, I was feeling like I could actually finish, so I was rather disappointed to quit early. But seeing as just walking back to my car was painful - I almost walked in just my socks - I'm sure it was the right decision. We'll see how Wednesday goes.