5.53K!

I reached my goal! Last week during my long run of 35 minutes I completed 5.53k! I have spent the rest of the week trying to let that sink in...after 5 years of on-and-off efforts to run a full 5K without walking once has finally been achieved. I remember my first "real" run along the seawall with my now husband, N. I was committed to trying to impress him and come in strong as we walked up to the pathway but within a minute I was a struggling, body aching baby. It is so strange to even try to remember that girl. I cannot identify with her now. In fact, I don't even know if I was really ever that girl. I always knew that I had this athletic, or, at the very least disciplined, person inside me. And here she is. It really is beyond words describing how a success like this feels. Even though it is a measly 5K to some, it is a long-time mind-blowing accomplishment for me.

This success came two weeks before the actual race. In the process of working through this running schedule I had a handful of runs that made me think that I would need to do it all over again and register for a new race later in the year. I thought that I wouldn't be able to do it remembering that there is a gigantic hill that you have run during the kilometre. I have been practising on small or medium inclined sidewalks - the hill during the race has killed me before. I am still nervous about this "hill" (which is actually a bridge - so there is a nice down hill afterward) but I think with the success of completing the distance I can talk myself through the harder parts of the race run. 

Tomorrow is my next long run and the schedule demands 45 minutes! This will officially be the longest run I will ever achieve, but I can do it. At least, I think I can. Last week I kept track of my laps and tracked it online when I came home. I have tracked a few of the shorter runs this week as well to see if my pace has improved or if the 5.53K was just coincidence. I tracked over 4k on all the other shorter runs. So, I am quite confident that I have improved in terms of speed and pace not just endurance. This will pull me through my long run tomorrow.

I am giving serious thought to what schedule I will follow or what I will do at the end of next week when this schedule ends. I think that if I repeat it the beginning weeks will be too simple and if I repeat the last three weeks that just isn't long enough of a schedule. I am nervous, though, to begin a 10K training program because I think it will be too challenging. But I curious at the same time. I will spend some time this week looking into options and then making a decision. For now, though, I am still basking in the high of achieving my full 5K without walking!