Last night I was surfing (I’m on a business trip in Louisiana) and I saw a post on Runner’s World about a 570 lb guy who started running to lose weight. He tried running once and couldn’t do it – but then decided he needed to do something. So he committed to running a 5k every month. He said that it was about finishing and it didn’t matter how long it took. In March 2015, he finished the Big 12 Run (a 3.1-mile run) in 1:27:44. I wondered how he was doing now…so I did some more surfing. He ran 23 5ks in one year and lost 80 lbs! What an inspiration!! There’s a FB page that shows he’s signed up for many more this year. It reminds me of this man that I saw during my first 5k. He was struggling the entire way, but he made it!
His 5k time also made me think about my 10k finishing time. I finished my first 10k in about the same time it took him to run the 5k. And there were people who finished my first 10k in less than 1/2 the time it took me. So it’s all about perspective. I am a slow runner and there are people twice as fast as me — but there are also people who are twice as slow as me. It really is about running our own races.
So this morning I ran along the Mississippi River for my Tuesday workout. Baton Rouge has a nice promenade that runs along the river in downtown. I didn’t have much time, but I wanted to get a short run in before the heat settled in (it is going to 80 degrees today). And I felt pretty good. I did a short 10 minute walking warm-up, then ran 1.54 miles with only 2 short walk breaks finishing in 20 minutes. I really need to get back to running 3 miles consistently. Now I’m 31 days from running a race with my sister. Can’t wait!
