I'm a Girl on the Run

Yesterday morning I woke up early, ate a little oatmeal, drove to Shelby Bottoms and ran the Snowflake Run 5K. Up until the race, I'd never run for more than 8 minutes at a time -- and I had really only done that twice during my interval training (I'll explain more about that later). But, you guys. I ran the whole damn 5K. No walking.

Not walking wasn't even part of my goal. My goal was to finish, and to not be last. But once I got going and passed the first mile marker I started to toy with the idea of not giving myself any walking breaks. See, there was a non-profit group called Girls on the Run participating in the race, so many of the runners were elementary and middle school girls, each running with an adult "buddy" who was there to pace with them and encourage them all the way to the finish line. When the girls would take a walking break, the buddy was there to walk alongside the girl and pick that key moment to say, "Want to start running again?"

Seeing that buddy system in place made me acutely aware that I didn't have a buddy. I'd have to be my own buddy, and I just didn't have it in me to be the person wanting to walk and the person trying to get geared up to run. So I just never stopped running for fear that it would be super hard to start running again once I stopped.

While it was so awesome to see so many young girls running the 5K together, many of them with painted faces or tiaras donning their cute little heads, I still felt a sense of accomplishment each time I passed one. On the other hand, I was amazed at how many of them finished (way) before me. The last leg of the race was all about focusing on the finish line, where I knew I'd see Neil. I'm so glad he came because I had no idea how important it was to see a familiar face in the crowd of cheerers-on. I high-fived him as I crossed the finish line and made him snap a picture of me in all my post-5K glory.

All in all, I'm quite pleased with myself and proud of the work I put into training for this race. I picked a tough time of year to start running. Sure, in November it felt great to be outside in a t-shirt, working up a sweat. But then it got ass-cold, and I was worried I'd quit. Thanks to some killer cold-weather gear from REI and Target, though, I kept going and actually learned to like running in colder temps.

I trained on my own with the help of the Couch to 5K program. I'd read about this program for a long time, but it didn't really make sense for me until my pal Matt told me about the smart phone app he used in his own training. With the app, you simply stick your headphones in and follow the instructions of the voice that pops in from time to time while you're listening to your favorite workout mix from your iPod. You know ahead of time the intervals you're going to do (it displays on the screen), so when the voice tells you to run, you just run until it tells you to walk. The combination of knowing the overall strategy for the workout and then not having to do anything but obey The Voice was the ticket for me.

So there you have it. I am a Girl on the Run. But today I'm lounging about in bed, watching the snow fall outside my soon-to-be-replaced window. My physical activity will be limited to wrapping presents (which is kind of exhausting sometimes, am I right?) and buying last-minute gifts on the internet, most likely. That is the stuff of perfect Sundays.