My first 5K
Similar to a first day of school, a first kiss or the first time your child asks you a heated question you don’t know how to answer “age-appropriately”, I completed my first 5K on Saturday with all the jitters, anxiety and whirlwind emotions of other kinds of “firsts.” I can’t even believe I can say “I ran my first 5K” when only 6 months ago I was considering whether I just concede to my “curvy” genetics and sedentary life that raising 2 children and working a full time job tends to carve out for the typical mom and just say “oh well - this is me, this is the way God intended my body to look and when you have two babies and “hips that we’re meant to have babies” (a quote from the OB that delivered my second daughter - I swear!)… I’m never going to wear jeans in a single digit size again and that’s just fine. But instead, something inside of me said “no… you don’t have to accept this. you may not ever be pencil thin and you will always have hips wider than the rest of you… but you can be healthy and you can teach your daughters how to take care of themselves, feel good about themselves and empower themselves through fitness and healthy living.” When you’re raising two daughters in today’s world… something just tells you it’s going to take a lot of love and guidance to help them learn to love themselves for who is on the inside and not by the standards of the world around them. How can I, as their mother, teach them that… if I don’t believe it for myself.
And so, I started this journey. A journey that has required a lot of tough decisions about what to do with my time, how to carve out a few minutes for myself and how to put myself on my prioirity list everyday without feeling guilty. I certainly cannot say I’ve conquered these items… instead it’s a daily challenge to myself. But learning how to find some time to exercise and finding a form of exercise I actually look forward to… those are things I’m starting to see take shape.
So this whole “running my first 5K”… that was supposed to be a program I was training on to complete in the next year. I had just actually written it down in a journal about my short term and long term goals, giving it a deadline of by next year I want to run my first 5K. I also started a 4 week program from Self magazine “4 weeks to run 3 miles at ease” and had only finished really the first week when all this happened. Sometimes it takes a little push to realize you can do more than you think. When my girlfirends said “oh forget your program… just come run.” I said “no way, I’m not ready” And I knew I wasn’t ready in the fact that the 5K would be easy or my time would be something to do cart wheels for. And the fact that I was running alongside friends who had run races before and simply are more naturally fit and able to pick up and run a race without much preparation…. those were all reasons I wanted to say no. But instead, I rode the adrenalin and before I could back out, I slapped down my $35 and said “I’ll give it a try.”
And to not disclose too many details… I did finish, but it wasn’t pretty. I felt as though my body and mind were totally disconnected and I wasn’t really prepared for the competitive instinct of a race environment. I had thought… I’ll just go and run at my own pace, walk if I have to, enjoy my Itunes playlist… it will be great. But I was so dizzy with all the distractions of the other runners — it wasn’t quite the experience I expected. But I did finish… 35 minutes + a few seconds.
So I guess, I can say the first one is behind me. Now I’m ready to get back on the horse and start working at my original goal of 3 miles with ease… but this time already knowing it isn’t the 3 miles that is the challenge… been there and done that. That’s pretty cool.
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Hi, I just joined the Sweat365 community
I’m a woman from Howell Michigan United States, born in 1976.
My favorite sports include: running yoga walking
My goals are: Make exercise a mainstay in my life. Be a role model of healthy living for my girls. Be able to run 3 miles with ease and for enjoyment. Refuse to be a “throw in the towel” mommy!
My other favorite activities include: Playing with my daughters.
This is my training blog which I am using to keep track of my fitness progress.
Please come by and read my blog. It will help me stay motivated and keep me on track as I achieve my fitness goals!
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