A few months back Graeme suggested that I join him in training for a 5k run. At the time I thought it would be no problem – it’s not so big a distance that I wouldn’t be able to get myself in shape for it, even if I was a little lazy.
Turned out that I was a lot lazy; managing maybe only one run a week for the first month, before maxing out at two a week by the end of June. Even then, all I managed to do was a lap of Sefton Park each time, which is about a kilometer short of 5k.
So it came as no surprize last night when I found it tough going, ending up with a time of 28 minutes 26 seconds, while Graeme went off like a robber’s dog, finishing five minutes ahead of me, and a minute ahead of workmate Steve.
I said before I started that I’d be pleased with anything under 30 minutes, but for some reason I wasn’t really mega happy. I could and should have done it in a far better time if I’d applied myself, so I’m regretting not showing the discipline to train a bit harder.
At the end of the run I felt quite good, strangely, and it was fun in a weird way, too. I guess it’s kind of cool to see where your limits are, even if I didn’t really push them. For the full results of the Joan Barr 5K memorial run follow the link: http://www.lps-athletics.co.uk/promotions/results/otherevents/joanbarr-5k.htm (n.b. it refuses to turn into a URL for some reason. Also, they spelled my name wrong.)
We’re now considering doing a five mile run on July 20th, although it’s quite a step up in distance and would definitely require a bit more dedication to training than I’ve shown thus far. I’ll take a few days to think about it, but I’m pretty sure I want to do it – having targets to aim for makes keeping fit a lot more purposeful.
