"My friends, you have to run-runna-runna-run, freedom, run away!"
I started running (pretty much for the first time in my life) a few months ago. I was trying to change my exercise focus from weight loss to something more motivating and less discouraging. My hope was to increase my endurance, which would help me when hiking, skiing, snowshoeing, etc. I set a goal of running a 5k (without slowing to walk) within a couple of months. I consider myself to be in reasonable shape thanks to my outdoor activities and occasional aerobic workouts, so I thought that I would get used to the running thing pretty quickly.
I was wrong.
Apparently, running is a whole different ball game. It uses completely different muscles and requires very different endurance abilities. I wasn't bad at it, necessarily, just much slower than I hoped. But I kept plugging along on my way to running my first 5k.
Then I remembered that the Bolder Boulder was coming up, and I got excited to participate! The Bolder Boulder is a HUGE 10k race that takes place each Memorial Day in Boulder. It's a pretty epic event, with lots of crazy people and marshmallows. With my first race determined, I gave up on the running a 5k without stopping and focused on just completing the 10k in under an hour and a half.
Now, I know that 1:30 is not a very fast time, but remember: I'd just starting running and I'd just realized that running was a lot harder than I thought it would be.
Anyway, I developed a little training schedule for myself to make sure I could handle the whole 6.2 miles, and I kept running until race day was finally here!
Of course, I took a little time to celebrate my birthday and grad school graduation with a little party on Memorial Day weekend:
I started running (pretty much for the first time in my life) a few months ago. I was trying to change my exercise focus from weight loss to something more motivating and less discouraging. My hope was to increase my endurance, which would help me when hiking, skiing, snowshoeing, etc. I set a goal of running a 5k (without slowing to walk) within a couple of months. I consider myself to be in reasonable shape thanks to my outdoor activities and occasional aerobic workouts, so I thought that I would get used to the running thing pretty quickly.
I was wrong.
Apparently, running is a whole different ball game. It uses completely different muscles and requires very different endurance abilities. I wasn't bad at it, necessarily, just much slower than I hoped. But I kept plugging along on my way to running my first 5k.
Then I remembered that the Bolder Boulder was coming up, and I got excited to participate! The Bolder Boulder is a HUGE 10k race that takes place each Memorial Day in Boulder. It's a pretty epic event, with lots of crazy people and marshmallows. With my first race determined, I gave up on the running a 5k without stopping and focused on just completing the 10k in under an hour and a half.
Now, I know that 1:30 is not a very fast time, but remember: I'd just starting running and I'd just realized that running was a lot harder than I thought it would be.
Anyway, I developed a little training schedule for myself to make sure I could handle the whole 6.2 miles, and I kept running until race day was finally here!
Of course, I took a little time to celebrate my birthday and grad school graduation with a little party on Memorial Day weekend:
Food and fun, complete with a late night run to 7Eleven!
But then I was all business and focused on the race!
What made the whole event even more fun was that my dad and my brother-in-law were running the race, too!
What made the whole event even more fun was that my dad and my brother-in-law were running the race, too!
Getting ready to start the race with my dad and LOTS of other people.
Matt was our photographer for the day, so he got shots of us and some of the 54,000+ runners.
And we're off! This is the start of our wave, but you can't see us because we're more towards the back.Dad quickly left me behind once we started running, which was ok because I turned up my music and got into a groove. I was able to run without walking for much longer stretches that I thought I would. And I had a lot of fun taking in the sights and sounds of the bands:
And crazy people:
Now, are you ready to hear my time? Ready?
1:23!
Under my goal! Woohoo!
Look at us rock stars!
Dad finished in 1:10 and George finished in 52 minutes (showoff).
After the race. A little tired, but happy!Next year, I hope to be much faster. Mostly so that I can run in a faster wave and not be slowed down by all the walkers who get in the way... But also because I know I'll keep getting in better shape this year! I'm back to working toward running a whole 5k, and I'm getting closer. Hopefully, I register for a 5k race later this summer!
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