For over a year, I made exercise a regular part of my life and lost almost thirty pounds. I walked the treadmill and worked out to DVD’s. Now, I was looking for a new challenge. My husband had recently signed up to run a 5k with his high school buddies and asked if I wanted to try it too. I was not a runner. In fact, I hated to run. Hated it. The last time I ran was in high school 10 years prior and that was because they made me. Maybe this was the new challenge I was looking for; so I signed up for a race two months away.
Like the good planner I am, I researched training plans to get me ready and found the Couch Potato to 5k Training Plan. While I was not a couch potato, I liked how this plan started off with a combination of walking and running, and slowly worked up to running the whole 3 miles. My husband suggested I buy a good pair of running shoes and off I went. I followed this training plan to the letter and just like past running experience, I hated every minute of it. I got shin splints and pain in my ankles, knees, and calves. My chest hurt as I struggled to learn how to breathe. How could anyone enjoy this misery? I couldn’t wait for race day to be over at which point I’d be done with this crap and back to my workout DVD’s.
Race day was chilly, cloudy, and drizzling. I didn’t care about my finishing time; I just wanted to run the whole thing. I don’t remember much about that day except when I rounded the last corner and saw the finish line. Some woman I didn’t even know cheered me on. She told me I could do it. She told me to give it all I had. She told me I was almost done. She clapped and yelled woo hoo! My husband was just ahead of me so I gave all that was in me to catch up to him. I crossed the finish line a few seconds behind him and felt like I wanted to throw up. I was hooked.
I can’t describe the sense of accomplishment I felt after completing that race. Pushing through the struggles of nine weeks of training and finishing my first 5k while running the whole time, really increased my confidence. Almost five years later after countless 5ks, 10ks, one half marathon and one marathon, I’m still running. And I love it.
