Little Speck on Big Planet

“I’m going to run a 5K”. I can clearly remember the moment when I made that statement in March of 2006. There was no particular reason why I wanted to do this other than to say that I ran a 5k. The last time I had done any sort of running was in college when I thought it would be a good idea and then promptly gave up when I got tired.

My husband had been training for a race at the time and was doing a great job. His two pieces of advice were to go to a running store and get fitted for a proper pair of shoes and to pick a training plan that I would stick with. The first part was easy, I visited Potomac River Running, had them watch me run a on a treadmill, and got fitted in a great pair of shoes. The second part started easy and then deteriorated. First I got bored, then I started not doing all the training runs I was supposed to.  The nail in the coffin was that I got hung up on my time.

I became so fixated on running the whole race in a certain time that I completely overlooked the importance of training for the race. So what happened? Two weeks before my race I hurt myself, I tweaked my left iliotibial band (which runs on the outside of the leg between the knee and the hip). Through massage and other therapeutic means, I did manage to still do the race, but I was in pain and I felt horrible afterwards.

So I quit running again, for about a year and a half. Some time in 2008, I got the itch to try this whole running thing again. Maybe it was because I was older and wiser, or maybe it was because I was more in tune with my body from diving deep into my yoga practice, but I felt this was my time to try the 5k again.

I laced up the shoes to start training. No longer was I concerned about time, my mantra became, “I want to finish and not end up in the medical tent”. I started a run/walk program and I stuck to it. Very slowly I added more running in-between my 2 minute walk breaks. I successfully completed several other races, always employing my run/walk strategy. And I had a great time while doing this.

You may be wondering if this story has a point, and yes it does. This past Sunday, I had several friends that asked if I wanted to do a 5k with them. I said yes and signed up. It was a little chilly race day morning but the sun was out and there was a great crowd there. The race started and I took off at a nice comfortable pace for me, the course varied between flat and some small rolling hills. I felt great throughout the whole race. At about the 2.5 mile mark (the total distance of a 5k is 3.1 miles) I realized that I had not taken a walk break, but that I also didn’t need to.

I finished the whole 5k without stopping to walk. That was not my goal or intention when I started the race, it just kind of happened. I DID IT! It only took me 3 years and 7 months, but I did it.

So the moral of the story is… Be determined in your mind and patient in your body, it will be amazing what you can conquer.

Maybe this story will inspire a wannabe runner out there who thinks they can’t do it.