5Ks

Kindness - I'm so not good at this. I'm kind and loving but don't always show it.

Kinky - Ah yes. Me likey. ;)

Kip - Do you know what this word means? No? Sleep. :) Tis a good word.

Kick - As in KickASS!

Kilometer - .621 miles for you non metric system American retards. Relax...I'm one of the retards too. :)

Well here I am again. Another day, another goal. Yesterday, I mentioned that I wanted to blog about the goals I set for myself this year.

Like many people out there, I set a goal to run, not walk, a 5K this year. The math for those of you that don't do it on your own or are from outerspace and don't know how many miles a 5K is: .621 miles X 5 kilometers = 3.105 miles. I want to run (not walk) 3.105 miles in a row without stopping. And I want to be able to accomplish this particular goal by Sunday, April 11th. I can thank my wonderful accountabilibuddy for the deadline. She found a 5K that is right in our neighborhood where we work out and presented it to me. So there you have it.

How am I feeling about this particular goal? I've never been a runner, EVER. Even in elementary school when they made you do the fitness tests and run around the field and do however many push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, climb the rope, etc. I dreaded taking my turn to run around the track.

I did the Breast Cancer 3Day Walk a couple years ago. One of my friends from college was diagnosed with breast cancer. She called me up one day right when she was done with chemo and said "I'm doing the 3day walk and you're doing it with me". Seriously? How can you say no to that! The woman just got done with chemotherapy for fuck sake. So I did it. We formed a team and raised money and did training walks and slept in a tent and the whole bit. I hated it!

OK. Let me clarify the hating it thing. I didn't hate all of it. I hated the actual 3day event and the fund raising. I enjoyed the time with my friend, what little bit I had. I enjoyed the training walks too, that is until I injured myself. What exactly I hated about the experience?
1. I got a sports injury and had to do 3 months of physical therapy after the stupid event was over.
2. Preparing for and participating in the stupid event cost me way too much money (shoes, doctor appointments, shit for camping out, more shoes, physical therapy, pedometer, water bottles, donations, etc.).
3. I got ditched by my teammates on the walk. I ended up walking alone for most of it. NOT FUN! You try walking 20 miles/day by yourself. Boringggg. I got really pissed off half way through the 3rd day and said "fuck this". I went back to the camp, grabbed my crap, called my husband to pick me up, and I left. I did all of it to be supportive of my friend who had breast cancer. And I ended up spending months and months and hundreds and hundreds of dollars to get DITCHED!

I wore this shirt on training walks:

This was our team shirt (ya it's stained...coffee), Simply the Breast (Tina Turner? Simply the Best?)

Back of team shirt. Says Breast Cancer! Say it! Fight it! Cure it! DAMN it!

But I digress. That was not running.

I typically don't spend much time on the treadmill. I'm an elliptical kinda girl. Elliptical, rowing machine, jump rope, kickboxing class, tennis, yoga, swimming, etc. So, I guess this getting ready for the 5K business is going to be a challenge for me.

Well, now that I think about this goal a little bit more, I'm starting to have some feelings. I'm going to have to run? What was I thinking? Good thing is that it's only 3.1 miles. That's not far. Now if only I could run for any longer than 2 minute intervals, I might have a chance. Whatever! I've got the complete wrong ideas running through my head. Thinking about how long, how hard, how unpleasant it's going to be? That's dumb.

Let's reframe this now, shall we?

I loved the training walks for the 3Day because walking around my neighborhood and the surrounding neighborhoods was really nice. You can't help but notice the sounds and the smells and all the little things around you when you walk. The actual 5K is going to be in April. Hopefully it'll start thawing out around then so it should be nice weather (this is my story and I'm sticking to it). Ahhhh, the sun shining, the birds chirping, the flowers starting to bloom (shut up, it's not going to be frozen under my feet and raining on my head, shut up).

You know what else is a nice feeling? I really love the feeling I get when I step on the treadmill and start walking for a little while but I feel that fire inside me and walking just isn't enough. I just HAVE TO run. Ah, that's a great feeling. That's it! That's going to be exactly how the entire 3.1 miles is going to feel. And in training for it, I'm going to get that feeling every week. Now, that's exciting.

You know what else is exciting? I've heard rumors of this so called mysterious thing, the "runner's high". Have you heard such a thing before? I've never felt that. I've never even wanted to. I think I want to now. yes. Yes. YES. YES! I want to feel the runner's high for sure. Did you see that just happen? That just happened right in front of your eyes, as you read it. I went from zero interest in the so called "runner's high" to an overwhelming desire to experience it for my very self. Is it even possible to get to that point in just 3 short miles? Who knows. Who cares anyway. Just reframing here.

So now I guess I should start training for it. How shall I go about that? Treadmill lovin' here I come. Let's see, maybe I should increase my intervals. 2 minute intervals become 2.5 minutes become 3 minutes and so on.

Who has some good ideas for me? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?