5K Baby!

Aaron's Mom probably didn't realize she was setting me up with a challenge when she first posted about running 5K a couple weeks ago. Well, challenged I felt, therefore, a self-challenge I created. I really wanted to be able to run 5 kilometers. Really run it. Like, without stopping or walking. So I started working my way towards that.

I've never been a runner. NEVER. In school I purposely avoided the sports that had a lot of running. I completely avoided soccer. Forget track. Why would I ever possibly want to do that to myself? But since I got married, I started jogging slowly here and there over the years. I usually hate it, but it's the one form of exercise that really gets me the results I want. So I've tolerated it. And slowly, it became less painful. I wouldn't say I've come to the point were I enjoy it or anything. By no means am I interested in training for a marathon or anything crazy like that. But I've reached a point were if I do some other cardio exercise instead, I don't feel as if I've had a really good workout.

Mostly I run a mile and a half or so. Two miles has been my distance lately. It's not too hard or too long, yet I am ready to quit and do something different by then. I haven't been able to run 3 miles for a LONG time, and the few times I've come close over the past year, it's been at an extremely slow 3 miles, broken here and there with walking. I've slowly been building up to 3 miles at a 10 minute mile pace since Katelyn was born, but every time I got close to my goal, I'd get sick or the girls would get sick or we'd go on vacation and I'd end up back at the starting point, panting my way though a mile again.

But that changed today.

Today I ran 3.1 miles in 31 minutes and 10 seconds.

Without stopping.

I know, I know. For you real runners out there, that's so lame. But I don't care. It was a big accomplishment for me. I'm very proud of myself. I feel GREAT about it. I think I'll do it again tomorrow.

And you know the best part? I have more hope of reaching my true goal, which is to be able to run 5 miles. Now I know I'll eventually do it. It may takes months and months, but the 5K was just the beginning. And I've done it. There's no stopping me now.

(Still not interested in a marathon, though. Triathlon-yes. 26 miles? No way in you-know-where.)