5.4 Km Non-Stop...

About a week ago I proudly announced that my friend Adam and I ran 5.4 Km non-stop. The last time I ran even remotely close to that, was before I became pregnant with Rosie. I've never really been a "runner" which is ironic since I was the manager of a running store for over a year. I know everything about the "right" running shoes, moisture wicking clothing, $20 socks, and the most popular marathons in the area, yet I hardly ran while I worked there. Ya, that's right, just call me the Milli Vanilli of running.

So here I am, 3 years later, with a double "mummy tummy" to loose, a drawer full of running gear from my manager days, and a few pairs of $200 running shoes (another perk of working at the store). I decided it was time to start running to loose the muffin top. I can just picture my old boss reading this, thinking "NOW she decides to run? Like why didn't she attempt it when she worked for us?"

The first night Adam and I went out running, we only ran for one minute, walked for one minute, totaling 2.5 Km. We were exhausted when we got back to my house and I felt so pathetic LOL. Sheesh, I've seen 60 year olds run further than that. Am I really THAT out of shape?! Any way 2 days later we went running again. We did run 1 minute, walk one minute, and we went for the whole 5 km this time. However, when we got to the end of our run we decided to run all the way back. It took us 3 minutes and 40 seconds to run down the street and I felt like I was going to die! I said "what? that was only 3 minutes and 40 seconds of straight running? How am I EVER going to do the whole 5 km without puking?! Perhaps my goal of running 5 km by June was a little too ambitious?" The next time we went running I said "let's run for 1 km without stopping, walk for a little while, then run another Km and continue in that pattern." We did that, and again, I felt like I was going to die, but we did that until we were done the 5 km. The next time we went out we ran as far as we could and it was 2 km (MUCH better than our pathetic 3 minutes and 40 seconds from a few nights ago). We then walked an ran until the 5 km was done.

Then the magical night happened! I said "Let's cut the crap and let's just run for as long as we can. Let's just try to make it a little further than last time." WELL... we ran 5.4 km non-stop and I could have gone further if I wanted to. When we were a few feet away from our finish I said "holy heck, I can't believe we're actually doing this!!" I can't believe how quickly the body adapts. My friend who I was running with was also amazed at how quickly we went from nothing to 5.4 km. He said he took one of those (wait, make that THREE) learn to run clinics at the Running Room for 3 months each time, and at the end, he was struggling to do "run 10 minutes, walk 1 minute" thing. He liked our method of running better. I think it's harder to stop and go because your body goes into rest mode when you walk and then you suddenly have to fire it up again. He joked that we should start our own learn to run clinic. Really, maybe I SHOULD. After all, I know everything about purchasing the right shoes and all that jazz.... hmmmm..... maybe I should.

It looks like running that 5 km race is possible for me after all!!! I might even try to run the Moon in June race on June 5th and have my Mom tag along (hear that Mom? People are reading this, no backing out now haa haa!)

For all of you who are reading this and thinking "there's no way I could run that far" let me assure you that you CAN. If I could go from workout videos, to 5.4 km in a week and a half, and Adam could go from nothing to 5.4 km in a week and a half, than so can you! Just go for it and you'll be surprised. Don't be discouraged if you can hardly run around the block the first time because you'll get better and better. It's perfect weather outside, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

Let me know how you're doing with your workouts/running!
- Elisabeth