I had an extremely busy weekend. I had dinner with my mom
and her friends on Friday night. Got up at 6am to run my FIRST
5k!! (Details to follow) Then I went straight to my boyfriend’s
house for a family gathering, then to Borderline for my friend’s birthday party
(finally getting into bed at 3:30 am :[...), then I woke up to a sick boyfriend
on Sunday morning, but we still went to a bbq for the 49er game. Needless
to say, I'm pooped.
I am so proud of
myself for running in my first 5k. I was extremely nervous due
to the fact that my knees started killing me 2 weeks ago, which put a halt in
my training. I had been doing weight training to try
to strengthen the muscles surrounding my knee to get away from the
pain, but guess where that got me? Sore... so extremely sore
that I am STILL hobbling around. But I did it. My
brother, Danny, who has been running for years, also did the race with me, but
he did the 10k. I was so nervous about it. I was scared that I
would be the only one that had to walk part of it and people would feel sorry
for me as I went through the finish line hours after the person before me.
I was psyched that when I got there, I saw two other friends that were
doing it too! I checked in and picked up my bib. When the race was about
to start I was hyperventilating. All sorts of thoughts were running
through my mind. "Would I get stampeded? Does everyone start out by
running? Would I do it wrong?" When I look at this now I
realize how silly this sounds, but at the time I was full of emotions.
Luckily one friend wasn't worried. She told me that she always
starts out by walking, she went with me to the back of the pack and I felt much
more comfortable. When we got out onto the main street, I decided to jog.
My knees started hurting immediately but adrenaline soon took
over. I had my music on through my Nike+ app and it made me feel good.
I kept challenging myself though landmarks. When I felt I was
getting tired, I would look up ahead and tell myself I could stop running at
the stop sign, or the yellow house. Usually by the time I reached the
points I was exhausted and I started walking. But a couple of
times, I realized that I was capable of doing it without walking. That I
wasn't going to die or faint. I also did this with people. I have a
very competitive nature, so I would push myself to
pass more people up because I wasn't going to let them get a better
time than me. I finished the 5k in 38 minutes and 56 seconds. When
I was training the lowest I could get it down to was around 44 minutes.
Needless to say I was so proud that I did it and did it in much less time
than I ever had before. I also discovered that my knees weren't
hurting me. My mind was transforming the slight pain that had stopped me
the last two weeks into something much worse. While it is extremely
important to listen to your body and stop when you’re hurting, I
wonder if it is just another excuse to quit. This led me to think about
something else... When we have bad addictions (i.e. smoking or drinking) that
hurt us constantly we can't give them up because we are so drawn to these
things... but why is it with good addictions (i.e. exercising or eating
healthy) the slightest hiccup (one bad meal) can completely de-rail
us from our goals and dreams? I need to change my thinking and stop
making excuses for quitting. I need to get out of my mind and accept
that I deserve to be healthy and happy with my body. Anyways, I am proud
that my knee problem didn't make me stop running. I am happy I pushed
through my mental limits and did something outside my comfort zone!
Here are some pictures from after the race!
My time was 38:56 and I finished 6th in my age group of 20-29!
Oh!!! and I am starting the contest for bodybuilding.com today! I will post my nutrition and workout plan in an upcoming post!
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