Runner's Rambles: 5k why have you forsaken me?

So it may seem like I've gone off the map, but in all reality, I have been on the map...running. I have gone back to work, so it seems that until I get on a better schedule, or I get myself in gear to get up earlier, then my posts might be a bit sporadic for awhile. I have still been struggling with staying on my training schedule and getting up early enough to beat the heat, but this week has been good so far. I have already done one strength training session and logged 3 short runs this week. I've got another strength session on the books for tomorrow morning, which leaves me Saturday to sleep in!! Wow! No 5 am alarm. No snooze button...10 times in a row. No place to be! Ahhh, I can't remember the last time that I set myself up to feel good about getting all my workouts/runs in to be able to sleep in on a Saturday with no regrets.

I got up just early enough to run before getting ready and heading to work on Tuesday and Wednesday, and though I still need to wake up earlier to really beat the heat, I felt good that I at least logged the miles even if they were sluggish and somewhat uninspiring at the time. I was happy to have a morning off today because Matt and I signed up for a series of night races this summer, and tonight we ran the first one. Technically this is the second race in the series, but Matt and I were home in Missouri when the first race took place. I was a little sad to miss it, but it was nice to see my family, and I still got some good running in with family.

Not lookin too shabby for post-race!

This race was a 5k at a small park in a neighboring town. The course is a one mile loop that you run three times...obviously. I am still not sure how I feel about night/evening races after this. I felt like it took place at a somewhat awkward time, so I tried to eat at the right times to keep myself from starving, but I was unsuccessful. I did like that I was able to get a full night's sleep, and I didn't even have race jitters throughout the day. The jitters didn't set in until we were in the car on the way there, and I was suddenly in full-on irritated mode.

I am somewhat frustrated and baffled by the 5k distance for a race. I can run 3.1 miles under 30 minutes when I am doing a training run by myself, but I have never actually had a successful 5k race. I feel like they are for the extremely fast and the beginner. Granted, many people would consider me a beginner with my measly 2 years of running under my belt, but I don't think my 5k racing should be as terrible as it usually is. The worst part is that before today, I had never run a 5k race that I didn't end up walking at least part of. Again, training run by myself? Fine and dandy. 5k race? Suddenly I can't suck it up. Well today, I sucked it up, and I don't have the chip time yet, but I think we came in just over 30 minutes. (Neither one of us wore a watch...smart, I know.) And I think I'm ok with that time considering my history with this race distance, but I am still annoyed that makes me one of the slowest people in the race, and I just feel like I should be better than that at this point. Oh well, I have never claimed to be fast, and now I have a time to beat for the last race in this series on the same course.

Soundbite Side Note

On my long run last week, I listened to a podcast episode of To the Best of Our Knowledge entitled, "Born to Run." It was very fascinating, and I really enjoyed it. I am probably going to listen to it again to catch the parts I missed when my attention faded in and out as it tends to do on a long run, but I think it is definitely worth a listen. Check it out! 

Run or Die

When I was running today, I was listening to a podcast of “To the Best of Our Knowledge,” and one of the segments in the podcast expanded on the dramatic changes that occur in a persons’ life after having a near death experience. This was research about people who were living after having been clinically dead and then revived. The researcher reported that the patients’ lives were changed so dramatically and in a way that they could not fully express to others because the people around them simply could not understand the impact of the experience.

I have never been clinically dead and then revived, and thankfully so, but the first thing I saw when I got home was a running meme. It hit me that running is the same as a near death experience.  Running has changed my life. I don’t always want to run. I am not fast. I don’t have the typical runner’s body type. I have not been running for very long. Despite these and other factors, I am a runner, and my life has changed drastically because of it.

It is sometimes weird when I talk about being a runner. I used to think it was stupid to say I was a runner at all when I had finished my first half marathon. Calling myself a runner to family, or with close friends, doesn't seem strange to me anymore because they understand what I mean when I say that I am a runner. I am slow and sometimes whiny, but I log my distance on a mostly consistent schedule. I still tend to shy away when I am talking to someone face to face. I feel like I am lying when I say it to someone I don’t know very well, yet at the same time, I have a hard time not talking about running with anyone and everyone. It just seems strange that something that meant nothing to me not so long ago, could suddenly mean so much to me now.