What I Learned From My First 5k

\”Are YOU Ready?\”

Jarhead, can I just say I hate you? My husband saw your camper, and can’t stop talking about how great it would be to do some camping with a camper! I’m trying to hold the line here, for everything good and decent about camping… I feel like I don’t even know you anymore.     Seriously though, Happy Birthday again!

I had a big weekend too. My first 5k. My goal was to run it. And it was a goal, not just wishful thinking, I had been condition training for months.  It turned out though, I had signed up for a 1st Annual run. Those of you who have done these sorts of things will probably understand my woes here, with a poorly organized run. There was no organization at the start line, so runners and walkers were all massed up in one big crowd. It was a solid 15 minutes before I quit having to dodge slow moving masses of walkers. There were choke points in the route, that the aforementioned large masses clogged to the point were I had to walk just to wait my turn to get through that part of the route. So, I don’t feel I had a good shot at actually running a whole 5k. Which was a little disappointing. I don’ t even know how far I got because there were no mile markers.  I did have my watch, so I have time markers.

Even after months of training, I was really tired when I got to the 30 minute mark. I was breathing ok, but my legs were just really tired.  I had only trained up to 26 minutes, and I was hoping that I would be at least close to the finish line by that point, but things were just moving too slow. By 32 minutes, I had reached a hill, the finish line was still a half mile away and I had to walk a spell to rest my legs.

Of course the finish line was uphill, isn’t that the way of life? “Train hard, then train a little harder up a big hill!” is going to be my motto now.

It was fun to finally run with other people. I never ran a ton as a teenager, I scheduled enough AP courses in high school that I could opt out of PE, and the training I’ve been doing this summer has all been solo. I had some worries before the run that I would be the slowest person in the 5k, or that my running was weird somehow or wrong somehow. I think though, that I’m probably doing things alright. My pace was much slower than friend’s, but this was his 6th or 7th 5k this year, so he’s had a bit more practice than I. I do know that with a time of 42 minutes, I definitely have room to improve on my pace.

I learned that I do actually like running, sometimes. When I’ve made it a couple of miles, and I’ve got my breath and my rhythm, it does actually feel really great. This might be the beginning of a great routine for me. And I know I’m just at the lower end of where I can go with running. This has been a surprising outcome, as I never thought I would like it.  But, I guess that too is the way of life, you do stuff, and learn interesting things from it.

What have you done lately? Have you learned anything interesting, about yourself or the world? Sound off in the comments!

-Calamity Jane