It has been one hell of a ride. Spoiler alert: I can totally run 5 K now! All the brutal runs where I couldn’t keep up or had to walk early were worth it – I can run 5 K. I’m far prouder than is appropriate for this kind of achievement.
The last two weeks of The Running Room clinic kind of fell apart, to be honest. Everyone, in both the Learn to Run and the 5K clinics, dropped out. Except me. Slow and steady wins the race, b*tches. During week 9 it was just my trainer, Nadine, and once her husband, who ran with me. We didn’t stick to the training program and ended up running 3 cycles of 10/1 on the Sunday followed by 2 cycles of 10/1 plus 12 minutes on Monday night. We made it to 4.73 km – the closed I’d been to running 5 K in over 5 years. I didn’t even feel like I was dying! I fully expected it to be much worse, but I felt incredible. The next day, I made a trip to the mainland, determined to hit 5 K. Wednesday evening Becky, Brie and Jesse met me to go running. We did 3 cycles of 10/1, but kept running until we hit 5 K. Well, I stopped dead at 5.00, Becky and Brie (show offs) kept running for another block. You’re super fit – WE GET IT. GOD. Naturally, we celebrated this amazing feat by having a meal at a former night club, now called Tap House. I ate an enormous plate of nachos, effectively negating all the hard work I’ve done running, but I stand by my decision.
I was unable to run Sunday because I woke up with a terrible sinus cold (I blame the baby), so I went to the last clinic night sniffling and gross, but hell bent on running 5 K. Literally no one was there except for the gentleman working the cash register. Still, I threw my keys in the key box and set out on “our” route. I returned triumphant. Doug (on cash) seemed mostly interested in getting me to leave the store so he could lock up and go home, but he could not deter me from gushing about how amazing I felt for a solid 5 minutes. I have a really hard time staying the course when I get an idea, but I did it! The sky’s the limit.
Since the clinic ended a week ago I have kept up with three runs over the week, plus the CIBC Run for the Cure last Sunday! Robbie came with me and we did the full 5 km course! It was a great run and I’m close to breaking away from 10/1s and running consistently. As long as everything stays completely flat. When I have the stroller even a 5% incline destroys me.
I plan to keep up with the running and continue to add time and distance. I’ve committed to a 10 K at the beginning of November with Brie, so that gives me three weeks to really crank it up. I actually think I can do it, which is a pretty cool feeling. In my first post, I wrote about hoping for a ripple effect to take hold in my life and that by getting active I would feel more motivated to eat well. I am feeling more motivated, but have not been doing well diet wise. It’s my next big hurdle to tackle and I’m feeling like I can take it on, especially as my son eats more and more solid foods. He’s become my best running buddy so he can be my healthy eating buddy too!
Thank you to Brie for allowing me a guest spot on her lovely blog and for holding me accountable over the last 11 weeks! I absolutely could not have done it without imagining she was quietly judging me the entire time.
