This morning I ran the Billerica Turkey Trot for Education, time 29:24. Traditionally, I run the Feaster Five 5K or 5 Mile race on Thanksgiving morning, but this year I am opting to work at a race instead of running one, so I decided to join my friend Connie and her 7-year old son Kellan at their hometown 5K today. And it was definitely a fun hometown race, complete with the local wackadoodle that Connie has been telling me about. He was out in full force today, reminding local residents to vote in the town's special election tomorrow. Although I have to hand it to the guy, he does play a mean trumpet, which put a pep in my step around the 1.5 mile mark. I haven't run a 5K race in months, so it felt a little odd to me. I'm used to running long and slow, not usually getting warmed up until about mile 5, so to race a 5K feels awkward to me. It's like I'm running as hard and as fast as I can, but I'm not out of breath and my legs don't hurt. That's much better than running at a slow pace and being out of breath with legs that want to quit on you, which is where I started 3 years ago.
And it was that thought that reminded me of something I had written last year about 5K's, so I'm going to recycle that here.
On 5K's, written August 28, 2011
I just finished watching the documentary about Dean Karnazes, the ultra-marathoner who ran 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days. As much as I am a huge fan of Dean Karnazes, I wasn't as moved by the documentary as I hoped I would be. I thought for sure I'd have my sneakers laced up before the ending credits started to roll.
Sometimes things are too over-the-top to be inspiring. Don't get me wrong, what Dean does is amazing, and it is a fact that he inspires thousands of people, but I just wonder if he's inspiring the right people. The documentary follows Dean as he runs a full 26.2 mile marathon every day for 50 days in a row, one in each state. The point wasn't to show-off his personal endurance, but it was to raise awareness for physical activity. They talked about childhood obesity statistics, and at one point suggested that while people don't need to run marathons, even exercising for 50 minutes 3 times a week would be helpful.
Here's the problem. There are millions of people that exercise for 0 minutes per week. I used to be one of those people. I wasn't even willing to do the "park your car in the last spot of the parking lot" trick. I was fat and uncomfortable and was too lazy to change into sweatpants, let alone do anything active once I was geared up. So what inspires people like us to get up off the couch? It certainly isn't watching a super-human run a marathon a day all over the country with what appeared to be a limitless budget and no concern for real life responsibilities. It can't be that big, but it also can't be too small. Like I said, parking my car far away, or taking the stairs instead of the elevator wasn't big enough. While I have no doubt that those are good habits, they didn't get me any sense of accomplishment. You can't blog about taking the stairs. You want to be great, and you want to people to notice that you're doing something that no one thought you would do. (And when I say "You", I mean ME.)
A 5K is the perfect milestone for getting in shape, for lots of reasons.
1. It's a measurable goal. Once you've done your first 5K, you immediately have another goal, which can be to run another one faster, or run a 10K, or simply just run another 5k.
2. With the Couch to 5K Training program, it really only takes 9 weeks to go from completely sedentary to being able to finish a 5k. 9 weeks!
3. You don't need money or a lot of time to train for a 5K. 30 minutes per day is all it takes. If you don't think you have time, turn off the TV.
4. Your performance in a 5K is completely individual. You don't need to run faster than anyone else out there. For your first 5K, all you need to do is finish. Maybe that's all you ever want to do, and that's fine too. I don't know if this is a relief or an insult, but I'll share something with you: No one cares about your 5K time except for you.
5. But hundreds of people will still cheer and clap for you as you finish the race, so you can pretend they care.
6. There is likely a 5K race within driving distance on any given weekend. No need to wait for a specific event or season to start training. Don't even look at a calendar, just start today and in 9 weeks, I bet you there will a 5K race for you to finish.
The best thing about the C25K program is that you only have to do the program one day at a time, and even that is only 3 days per week. I've heard a lot of non-runners say they can't do the C25K program because they could never run a 5k. Ummm, exactly. That's what the C25K program is about. Lucky for you, you get to start at the first week in the program, not the last week. In week one, you don't run for more than 60 seconds at a time. And guess what? If you can't do that, then you run for 40 seconds, or 6 seconds if that's all you can do. No one is going to throw you out of the program. But the point is, you are doing it, and it's amazing, and people will cheer for you regardless of how well you do, just that you are doing it. And wouldn't you know it, all of a sudden YOU are inspiring other people to do the same. That sounds a lot better than running 50 marathons in 50 days, doesn't it?
No comments:
Post a Comment