What a Run!

No, I didn't run my first 5k, not yet anyway, but yesterday was pretty good in it's own right. Let me fill you in.

My sister and I started the C25K program March 20th. So we've been running for 12 weeks now and the vast majority of that time has been spent in Week 3 of the 8 week program. Honestly, Week 4 has always felt too daunting. There's a major difference between Weeks 3 and 4, and at my weight I've just never felt ready.

When we first started running I sounded like a woman in labor. Actually I sounded like someone trying to do Lamaze breathing but who really, really sucked at it, hahahaha! If there were other people at the track while we were running they would always turn around to see who was making all the noise. I've screamed, I've moaned, I've cried, you name it. Over the many weeks we've spent in Week 3, I've finally learned to control my breathing. Do I still feel like I'm dying? Sure, but somehow I've learned to manage it. So, this week my sister said, "Let's do this thing." To which I replied, "Um... okay. Let's."

I have to admit I was nervous.  A little scared even. We had never run a 5-minute stretch before and now we were going to do it twice in a 30 minute period, as well as two 3-minute stretches. Also, the recovery periods between runs were going to be shorter as well. I wasn't sure I could do it but I was willing to try.

We walked briskly for 5 minutes, then ran for 3 minutes. All was good. It was the 5 minute run I was worried about and it was now upon us. I was determined not to look down at the timer on the iPod. I knew knowing how much time was left in the stretch would make me want to quit. I decided to keep my eyes on the pavement just in front of me and keep moving. At 3/4 of a lap I was hurting. At a lap I was ready to quit, but I knew without looking that was around the 3 minute mark. I saw another woman at the track. She was much bigger than me. She was walking. She made me want to keep going. It hurt. It sucked. I felt like I might cry. Then I heard the chime which meant the 5 minutes were up and it was time to walk! We still had another 3 and another 5 (both of which we did, yay!), but in that moment I was crazy proud of both of us. What a breakthrough! We'd gone from running 9 out of 30 minutes to running 16 out of 30 minutes, and finally ran a 5 minute stretch. Yes, super proud!

I know this is not what they mean by "runner's high", but it might as well be.