Not an Athlete

I am not an athlete, and I am especially not a runner.  But recently my daughter, who is 9 years old, decided that she wanted to run a 5K.  Initially I thought it was pretty cool that at such a young age she had set this goal for herself. About a month into her training, however, I realized something.  She cannot officially run a 5K race without an adult, and as her Dad’s knees are shot from playing soccer for 30 plus years, I was her only option.

Again, I am not an athlete.  I had absolutely no idea how to start training.  Well that’s not completely true.  I had 2 other times started the Couch to 5K program by myself and had washed out only weeks into the program either because of lack of motivation or because of an injury.  So basically, I was not a successful athlete. This time, however, my daughter was involved, and I really hadn’t the option to wash out.

The Athletic Plan

Trying to avoid another wash out, I thought about what I could do to be more successful.  I decided to ask my runner friends, basically they all said the same thing.

• Join a running group
• Join a running group at the same level as you
• Join a running group and make friends within the group rather than being your typical anti-social self
• Join a running group and actually go
• Join a running group and sign up for the 5K at the beginning of the program

So in case you missed it, I was supposed to join a running group.  Finding a running group was actually pretty easy.  I just called around to the local running stores, and asked them if they had any running programs.  Pretty much all of them did, but then I found one that actually uses a variation of the Couch to 5K program which I liked.  The program also included trainers who had all started in the program, offered extra classes within the group concerning gear, nutrition, etc., and had a goal run sponsored by that store at the end of the training.  It seemed to be a good fit, so I paid my $75 and signed up.

Not Not an Athlete

The first week of the program they passed out our training schedule.  In my usual fashion of skipping to the end and ignoring the beginning and the middle, I saw the last week involving 5 minute intervals of running with the final goal being race day where we were supposed to run our 5K. I immediately started panicking, but then my husband said to me, “Trust the program.  Take it only one step at a time.”

For some reason his advice struck a chord. I decided to jump in head first and trust the program.

For the first few weeks I ran 1 minute intervals, huffing and puffing the entire way through. When we bumped up our training to 2 minute intervals I couldn’t sleep the night before, worrying about making it through. I did. The same thing happened at 3 minutes and again at 4 minutes.  After the first day of 4 minute intervals, however, a change in my mind set suddenly happened. It occurred to me that, I could do this.  I could actually run a 5K.”

You see, much to my surprise, I was actually able to run the 4 minute intervals.  I was amazed.  Wasn’t it just a few weeks earlier that I couldn’t even run one minute at a time?  But now I was running 4 minutes!  And 5 minutes?  They suddenly didn’t seem so scary.  And running a 5K without stopping?  It seemed possible.

Am I now an athlete? That’s a hard stretch for this former band geek to call herself an athlete, but currently I can definitely say that I’m not not an athlete.  Especially now that checking 5K off of my bucket list seems possible.  Maybe after I actually finish the race I’ll be able to say, “I am an athlete,” but for now not not an athlete works for me.

Related posts:

1. If I Can Run So Can You