I know a 5k is nothing in the world of running... and I'll be the first to admit that I am not a runner. Nor do I really want to be. I have no desire to run long distances (that would cut into my D&R time, hello!) so a 5k is it for me.
I ran one last year in LA, and had so much fun that I wanted to do it again in my new town. I trained for it last year for months, but casually—I wasn't trying to break a record or anything. I didn't even really care about my time, I just wanted to finish. I think my time was 32 minutes or something, can't even remember.
This time around I only had about a month... maybe six weeks to train. I was so out of shape after moving here as we really had no time to run while we were getting settled and adjusted. I could barely run a mile after starting back up last month, and I put house projects first and only ran outside a handful of times in my training. So I was slightly nervous because I set some pretty high goals this time: 1. Finish under 30 mins, and 2. Don't die.
The start of the race felt awesome... we did the first mile in 6:42! Our fastest time ever (Brad was running with me). We hadn't trained for that pace so our energy was gone by mile 2. The situation worsened when five year olds were sprinting past me. The "ka-thump, ka-thump, ka-thump" of each step became "this-sucks, this-sucks, this-sucks" in my head the rest of the way, and I decided if that my heart were to stop and that was the end of me, I would be at peace with my fate because I was going down with everything I've got. I wasn't going to slow down.
I couldn't breathe in enough oxygen, my throat was burning, and I was begging for the mile 3 marker to show up in the last stretch. We finally turned the last corner to the finish line and I saw the clock... 27:25 as I ran across the line. Yes!! Smoked both of my goals, yeah dog.
Whew, that was long winded and perhaps over-dramatic, but I wanted to share my story and hopefully you runners out there can relate. Or if you are just starting you can get motivated to get out there and do it! Races are fun, they make all the training worth it.
And I couldn't have done it without music. Not just any music... this is the best of the best of my running collection—it pushes me like no other to keep going when I'm about to break. Gotta love it. This is what I used this morning, in this order (one song is missing because apparently it's too obscure for their database—it's Stunt's "Raindrops" if you want to look it up):
Add these to your playlist! Trust me.
So to honor this accomplishment (and everything else in my life I'm trying to do right now) I put this print up on my office wall...
I heard this quote a while back and it stuck with me. It reminds me (in the words of Joe Dirt) to keep on keepin' on, and that all my hard work is not for nothing. I think I'll keep it around for a while :)
I also treated myself to this lovely 25 cent antique glass bottle at a yard sale on the way home from the 5k:
There's this paint technique I wanted to try on it and I think it would look great among a collection of small jars/bottles as vases for my future dining table. Hope to find one of those on craigslist soon!
Last but not least, I finally purchased a window shade for the office. I went back and forth a thousand times on a white roman shade, a green roman shade, or this bamboo shade. I figured the bamboo would be the safest and most versatile with all the shades of blue + green I plan on adding to the space over time.
This is the same shade we have in the kitchen nook too and I love them there!
The Saturday sunshine is calling... time to go relax. Enjoy your weekend everyone!
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