My First 5k in Almost a Year

Last year I was going to run the Blue Nose Marathon and not only that, I was also asked to join Team Myles. Team Myles is a special part of the Scotiabank Blue Nose Marathon that brings focus to the average Nova Scotian’s participation.  A Team Myles member is someone who chooses to establish a training goal and participate in one of the Race Weekend events as a runner or walker in the 5k or 10k.

Before starting to train with Team Myles, I had never run more than 2 or 3km and the thought of doing 10k absolutely terrified me.  With my injuries and my lack of cardio, I knew I was in for some deep trouble.

Fast forward to my first 5k ever after 2 months of training and then eventually up to my first 6k and then 8k.  I was on a roll and ready for my 10k race until I ended up rolling my ankle and injuring myself pretty bad two weeks before the race.

Running a 10k is still on my bucket list and last week I decided I’m going to try and do one sometime this summer, which leads us up to tonight.

I’ve been having a lot of hip and groin issues lately (for those of you who don’t know, I was in a pretty bad motorcycle accident 3 years ago and still suffer from my injuries) but tonight I decided to try and run 5k.  It’s been since April 4^th, 2011 that I’ve done a long distance run and my goal tonight was to get in a full 5k no matter how long it took.

It’s still very snowy here and hovering around freezing, so I threw on my Under Armour compression pants under my shorts and my Adidas running jacket that I got as a member of Team Myles and off I went.

31 minutes and 2 seconds later, I finished my first 5k in almost a year.  I got my first 3k without stopping in seventeen minutes, walked for two minutes, and then finished running the next 1.9km.

It was tough, but I was determined and I challenged myself to do it, so I did. And surprisingly fast and had it not been for sore hips, I know I could have gone further.

I’ve challenged myself to challenge myself every day, and this was my biggest success in a long time, and I couldn’t be more proud right now.

I’m going to keep training slowly and getting ready for my 10k and I’m going to keep challenging myself every day.  Accomplishing something you challenge yourself to do is an amazing feeling.

What have you challenged yourself to do lately?