I Hit My Running Goal!
Running has been in my life for a few years now, it’s been very up and down, including a few years with minimal running but it’s something that I have always loved. Today’s post is all about building up to my 5K goal I had set myself at the start of the year.
We all know I love a new set of goals, or a refined version of what I had set for myself from the year before, and even though I didn’t post publicly about my goals for the year, it was something that I looked at almost every single day.
Looking back, I’m really happy that I kept them for myself and while I don’t have the biggest following, I didn’t need the accountability from putting them online, I felt comfortable enough knowing that I knew about them, and no-one else. That’s a fantastic feeling.
What was my running goal?
My goal at the beginning of the year was to hit a 5K distance by the end of April, and the main reason for that was because I had signed both Scott and I up for a 5K race, that on the day of the race, we just decided not to do it. We both weren’t in the right headspace for it, it was in a location that we really didn’t know all that well, and we didn’t want ourselves to be miserable during it. I didn’t mind losing the money that I had paid, but we still decided that we were going to go for a run that day regardless; the only differences were that it would be somewhere local that we knew and there was going to be ZERO pressure of distance and time.
It ended up being the best decision we ever made. It was the first time since January 2020 (for me at least) that I had ran 5K, and I was so happy that there was zero pressure for anything, and we ended up hitting the distance that I wanted on the same day.
My story with running all started shortly after I met Scott; he was an avid runner and the stories he tells me about the marathons and ultra marathons he has done, is incredible. I had ran a few times before meeting him but I never thought I could run, so one day he decided to teach me. You might be thinking “how do you teach someone how to run? Don’t you just go faster than walking?” and trust me, I thought the exact same way too, but there’s a little more that goes into it. He taught me about pacing myself, learning how to run slower to gain more energy for later, and when we would run in certain places, he would be able to map out where a certain distance was, so I could remember.
The longest distance I have ever ran was almost nine miles, I’ve also ran in a few 10K races before, so starting again from scratch is something I’ve had to do for quite a few times, but this is the first time I’ve been consistent with my running for four or so months.
How has it felt building up distance again?
Building up to a 5K this time around, has been so much fun but quite tiring. I started with 1K which at the time, felt like a mean feat, but then I went to 2K and it eventually got easier. For me, it was slightly tougher because most of my runs were done on the treadmill and that’s harder for me because I learned how to run outside. Getting used to being on a treadmill is strange because I still can’t gauge if I’m going too fast or too slow; my timings are telling me that it is slower but adjusting the speed even a little, can make a huge difference.
I didn’t actually run a full 5K until the day of the race (you know, the race I didn’t do) so going from 2.5K to 5K wasn’t as painful as I first thought it would be thankfully. However, I wouldn’t recommend it; try and build up by 0.5K or even 0.25K if you’re new to running.
How do I feel about running now?
My mindset with running has completely changed since I first began almost five years ago. It’s much healthier than ever before; I don’t feel like I put as much pressure on myself, and while I do know that my pace and my distance were a lot better back then, I know that it’s going to take time, and that’s okay. Before, I probably would have beaten myself up about it but now, I take it little by little and it’s so much more satisfying.
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Getting back into running was one of the best decisions I made for myself this year, and I’m really excited to keep up with it, especially in the Summer months, which I’m hoping that Northern Ireland will give us a good few weeks (at the very least!) of gorgeous sunshine. Thanks for reading today’s post!
Have a wonderful week! ☀️