Today was a day circled on my calendar for some time. I wanted to get in an official 5K run before the end of the year for two reasons, to have a goal for the end of this year, and to have an official time and a measurable achievement to try to improve upon in the upcoming year.
I ran in the Vern's No Frills 5K this morning. I was surprisingly anxious, I guess a little worried about my first run, because runs with other people have a tendency to feel like race. I showed up super early to register and ended up just sitting in my car trying to stay warm (it was 40 degrees this morning). As I sat in my car I watched these amazingly thin and fit looking people walk by my car to register and I thought, great, I'm going to finish last by a longshot. But I was able to catch myself and remember that my goal for this run was not to beat or impress a bunch of strangers; rather, it was to prove to myself that I can run 3.1 miles. My anxiety subsided as I thought less and less about the other people. Interstingly enough, there was a young girl, maybe 12 years old, and she was ahead of me, she'd slow down to a walk until I was about to pass her, and then she took off in a full sprint, it was like a game, and made it difficult to keep in mind that it wasn't about the other runners. I jumped out of the gates a little faster than I would have liked, but ultimately I just had to slow down to a walk a few very short times to catch my breath a little bit. I unofficially timed my race at 35 minutes and 30 seconds so I was running at about 5 mph, which is a wonderful pace for me.
I think I'll sign up for another 5K here in the Georgetown area in February, the Cupid Chase around Valentine's Day. And my next goal after that would be to run in the Statesman Capitol 10K in April. A 10K is a totally different beast so starting in the new year I think I'm really going to have to beef up my training regimen.
Life is great right now, and it's wonderful to say that I am a runner.
Sometimes I find myself wondering how dedicated I am to making a healthier lifestyle for myself. Do I really go the extra mile or try to get by with the bare minimum. I've always had a great ability to make excuses and rationalize away any blame or shame coming from my own conscience. This morning I got back in from a run and I think I've convinced myself I'm no longer making excuses. I typically run between 5:15 and 6:00 AM. this is usually the coldest time of day. This last weekend I wanted to get in a quick jog in the morning and boy was it quick, it was only 18 degrees but I still ran for 10 minutes. Yesterday morning my thermometer said that it's 33 degrees but the weather man says the windchill feels like 22 degrees and I ran for 30 minutes. Today the weatherman says it's 30 and feels like 25 degrees and I ran for 20 minutes. I find that my decisions to tackle my run regardless of weather is encouraging because the winter is still very young.
It's been sometime since I've updated this blog, and sticking with this blog reminds me of what it takes to stick to running as well. I've been falling in and out of cycles of running and then taking a few days off. Ultimately I just need to get up and go, and I need to do the same thing with this blog.
I'm getting excited about my upcoming 5K. I've been trying to run a 5K for practice every two weeks or so. Below are the dates and run-times.
11/8/09 - 45 minutes (approximate)
11/12/09 - 42 minutes
11/22/09 - 39.5 minutes
My actual 5K is December 19th, so I'm hoping with more conditioning and the adrenaline of running with 100 other people, I can improve on my best times yet.
This running journey began back in August when it was suggested to me that I get into running for the health benefits and to add it as an enjoyable past time. At first I laughed. I played soccer for 10 years as a kid, I ran all the time, but never EVER enjoyed it. So to begin with I had a single purpose for running, and that was to get in better shape.
My runs began as attempts at interval training. I'd run really hard for two minutes and then walk for a minute, repeated over and over again. My "hard run" was just a notch above my jog, but I couldn't believe I was actually waking up early every morning to run (even weekends). So now I've established a morning routine where I rise nice and early before the baby even, and I try to be out on my runs for anywhere from 20-30 minutes. That time includes a little warm up and cool down walking, and I still walk once in a while just to catch my breath.
I'm excited about the time change because now I can wake up a half hour earlier and start trying to run for more like 30-45 minutes. My goal is to get to three miles in 36 minutes and then I think I'll be ready to run a 5K. After that, I've had a friend recommend that I sign up for the Austin American Statesman Capitol 10K in April. I'm still mulling over that idea because 6.2 miles is obviously much more than 3.1 in a 5K.
I plan to use this blog mostly as an outlet for myself, to let me check on my progress and see what I've been up to throughout this journey. I've been telling myself ever since August that "I'm a runner" and I plan on being a runner for as long as I can. I'll post weekly summaries of my runs and maybe some longer entries like this periodically as I'm inspired to do so.
Here's a breakdown of my runs I've been tracking so far, including a great run this morning.
DATE-10/29/2009 ROUTE-Meadows - 2 laps DISTANCE-1.6 TIME-25 SPEED-3.84 Comments-First day running with the dogs, they keep up quite a pace. That's what I keep in mind is that I need to keep my run fast enough that the dogs can't be walking, kinda sad but true. Another thing about running with the dogs, just holding on to the leashes, much less keeping them from peeing on everything in sight, adds a nice element of upper body workout too.
DATE-10/30/2009 ROUTE-St Helens DISTANCE-2 TIME-25.5 SPEED-4.7 Comments-Well, running with the dogs again, this time the girl dog tried to kill me twice. I'm hoping as we run these routes more often she'll know when to turn instead of running straight into me as I turn . . . On another note, today I basically recreated one of my first runs where I went down to the church and back. If I recall, back in those days it took me about 7-8 more minutes to cover the same distance. Today I also decided that it would be cool if I can get my conditioning to a point where I can run with my brother at Christmas and actually be able to speak while running.
DATE-10/31/2009 ROUTE-San Gabriel Park DISTANCE-2.42 TIME-33 SPEED-4.4 Comments-San Gabriel Park is pretty spooky on Halloween morning in the pitch black, but that didn't stop me. I was hoping to run a longer distance today to get a better understanding of what a 5K will be like. Maybe tomorrow I'll wake up super early with daylight savings time and try to go out for at least a 3 mile run.
DATE-11/1/2009 ROUTE-Churchill Farms DISTANCE-2.2 TIME-26 SPEED-5.07 Comments-I'm starting to think the dogs definitely help me keep a stronger pace. I felt pretty weak and tired this morning and wasn't expecting much, so needless to say I'm delighted with how this mornings run turned out.
This was the first totally free Saturday I've had in about two months. I decided to check out the track at the nearby middle school, but believe it or not, the gates were closed and locked at 5:50 on Saturday morning. I decided not to trespass and to check out the San Gabriel Park instead.
It was only 45 degrees this morning so I'm glad I had my gloves in my car. So it was nice and cold, quiet and dark with the river peacefully flowing alongside the path. My intention was to try to run closer to three miles, maybe build myself up to a 5K by Christmas. I ended up running 2.4 miles in 33 minutes, so not quite 3 miles, but I think I'll give it a try again next weekend. It wasn't until the very end of the run that I realized it was a little spooky to be out in this dark park all by myself on Halloween. Good thing I don't get scared to easily.
After the run today, the family and I headed out to the Nike outlet store to check out some shoes. I checked out the website and found a few styles that are optimum for my foot and stride. Looks like I'll hopefully be getting some Structure Triax +12 for Christmas this year. I wanted to get some sort of Nike + shoes because of the technology that can link my shoes to my ipod to help me track my runs. It doesn't hurt either that these shoes are kinda Texas Tech colors. . .
