5[k]razy

it always feels amazing to accomplish a goal.  this summer, my goal was to run a 5k in a relatively decent time and without serious injury.  last week, i did.

this goal came about for several reasons.  first of all, as much as i try to deny it, the fact is i am getting older.  now being firmly on the first step on the 30's staircase, i decided i needed to take better care of my health.  around the time of my birthday, i found myself working out several times a week on the elliptical machine.  second reason, my friends.  i have no idea how it happened but my friends are all very fit, always running and playing soccer.  it didn't occur to me how out of shape i was until last june, when they all participated in a warrior dash.  looking at the course, i felt there was no way i could complete it and opted to stand on the sidelines and take pictures.  yelling and cheering for my friends as they jumped over fire and crawled through mud, i was a little sad.  i wished i could have been out there with them.  i wanted to have that anxious look they all had before the race, and i wanted to have that feeling of accomplishment they all had as they crossed the finish line.  by the end of june, i switched from the elliptical machine to running.  lastly if you've been reading this blog for a while, you may remember my first attempt at a 5k several years ago.  if not get caught up here.  it was far from a good run, as my time was horrible and my legs hurt for three days. i was anxious to wipe that run from my record.  i continued running throughout the summer, and increased from doing just a mile to running 3.1 miles several times a week.

the other weekend, my friends and i participated in the rosstober run, which takes place in the beautiful college hill area of wichita.  we all kept pace with each other for the first half mile, but slowly started to set into our individual paces.  as nervous as i was, it was apparent my training had really helped.  it didn't feel nearly as long as the race five years ago, and i was pleased to see the people i was running next to seemed to be in good shape.

now i was never what you'd call the "athletic" type.  i spent most of high school in the dark room and theater, so there have been very few times in my life where i had to compete using just my athletic ability.  my time was 31:17, which is nothing to write home about, but as i crossed the finish line, the feeling of accomplishment was amazing, and was worth every minute of training.  also the free beer and bratwurst every runner received was an added bonus.

the really scary thing is how much i enjoyed it.  i plan to keep up with running, and would love to get my time under 30 minutes.  also being of german decent, i plan to look for more races offering beer and bratwurst, as it's the perfect carrot to dangle in front of me.