Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

Our first 5K

3 is the magic number

Week 3, Day 1. Saturday’s training included a 3-minute run, no walking. So far, that’s our longest stretch of straight running. I was a little nervous, but like anything else, it’s partly mental. And, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, also like the rest of the running so far. We took the kids again, even though the temperature when we left the house was barely 50 degrees.

Because of the chill in the air, I made a rookie mistake: wearing pants. By the time the run was over, I was hot from the waist down. My husband, who is more experienced at running in a variety of weather conditions and temperatures, said it would have been better to wear shorts and a long sleeve shirt instead of long pants and a long sleeve shirt. I think I agreed with him afterward but would love to hear how others of you deal with the cold while running. The 5K we’re looking at is the weekend before Thanksgiving, and I don’t know what the temperature will be like. But the next month or so should give me a better idea what running in cool weather is like.

We’re learning to be flexible and creative with our running schedule, making a point to find three days in a week to fit in our run. I shed a little more weight this week, and Phil was asked today if he’s been losing weight. He doesn’t rely on those sorts of measurements to track his progress, but I’m hoping we both see results, physically, from this training.

Another set of 3 minute runs tomorrow. I can’t believe I actually look forward to this now.

Lessons learned

Week 2, Day 3 done. We completed week 2 yesterday, and it was a good day for learning a few running lessons. Until now, we’ve had a relatively easy time finding childcare, fitting the run into our schedules and letting it be a refreshing sort of event in the early or middle part of our day.

Not so yesterday. Phil had an all-day training for substitute teaching, so our run was scheduled for after 4:30 p.m. — after he’d been in a seminar all day, after I’d been with the kids all day, and right around supper time. Thankfully, my grandparents bought us a jogging stroller/bicycle trailer for Christmas and it arrived last Saturday. So, we planned to load up the kids in it and get our run in for the day.

A little easier said than done. We changed and stretched, then had to cart the stroller up from the basement, reassemble it, air the tires and secure the kids. By then, we’d already been stretched for 10 or 15 minutes and it was dinner time. I started our run with a bad attitude, thinking there was no way we’d be able to get this done, that I’d be starving and because it was the end of the day, I’d be extra worn out. Some of those things were true, but five minutes in to the routine, I was feeling good. The kids were mostly happy. Corban looked a little uncomfortable but he put himself to sleep. Phil worked harder than usual because he was pushing 55 extra pounds. But all in all, it was a successful end to the second week.

I don’t really like running that late in the day, especially with supper waiting in the oven, but I learned that mental obstacles can be overcome and discipline is about sticking with the committment even if conditions aren’t ideal.

On to week 3.