Tuesday, August 31, 2010

I ran a 5k!

Well ran/walk.

On Friday, I went to the gym and did my usual on the elliptical. When I was done, I felt like sweating a little bit more so I decided to use the treadmill. I told myself I would run/walk 1 mile. This is something that is fairly challenging for me.

I did the first minute walking to warm up. Then I started running. Immediately, I noticed my breathing was easier than what I'm used to so I decided to cover up the time and just run till I felt I couldn't go on. I know sometimes when you focus on time, you can sell yourself short. Imagine my surprise when the song I was listening to ended and I was STILL running. I ran for a little bit longer before I felt the need to slow down. I looked at the time and I had run a little over 3 full minutes. Some of you might be laughing to yourselves (aka, the people that can bang out a mile at 6.0) but this was a major first for me!

I felt like a runner.

Wow, Deranged must really have upped my aerobic capacity.

The next day, I woke up with this thought in my head "I want to do a 5k". So many people in the blogosphere talk about it. First things first. I had to figure out how many miles that actually was. Google told me 3.1 miles. Hmm, so I had to do what I did the previous day 3 times. I was pumped, I felt I could do it.

And I did. The longest I ran was 4 minutes. I played with the speed to keep things interesting. I walked a lot, don't get me wrong. Definitely had to catch my breath. By the time I was done, I was DONE. I had no more energy left in me - I could feel it. Kudos to all y'all that do this on the regular. It was HARD! When I got home, i had to just sit and be. Sweat was pouring out of every pore.

Looking back, I probably should have eaten a little more before (I had a slice of toast and peanut butter) but I am so proud of myself.

I know some of you have some things you think you could never do. Running is that for me. I read all these blogs where people ENJOY running and I think to myself that our genetic hardwiring must be different. I can do the elliptical, I can weight train, I can swim but I am NOT a runner. That's what I used to believe.

I'm not officially a runner now but I can at least envision myself as one later on in the future. I don't know if I'll keep it up but it's nice to know that dramatic change is possible.

3 comments:

  1. Way to go!! Of course you're a runner! You become a runner as soon as you lace up your shoes and go out your door.

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  2. That's brilliant, well done on a great accomplishment! When I started running in January I could only manage 60secs at a time, now I can run 6.5k non-stop at a push. It does get easier I promise, just keep pushing yourself.
    And you are definitely a runner now, no going back!

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  3. hey!! you have a wonderful blog. thanks for sharing your weight lost progress here. keep it up and never give up. you can do it.

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