Just One Marathon

The Frustrating 5K

I’m a bit run down, but I’m okay.

I just feel like calling it a day.

But you send me back to the start.

You drive a hard bargain.

-- Ron Sexsmith, Hard Bargain.

For almost a year now, I’ve been chasing the elusive 25-minute 5K. Unfortunately, I never seem to get any closer. Recently, I looked back on my entire relationship with this short but frustrating distance.

First date: My first run ever was the Cookie Run, a Fall event that was the culmination of the “learn to run” group I joined in 2005. The clinic introduced newbie runners to the sport gradually. The first week, we ran for one minute and walked for one minute, for a total of about 20 minutes exercise. The next week we did “2 and 1s”. The following week, “3 and 1s” and so on, until we had mastered the “10 and 1” method of running that was one of the key components of the running clinic’s philosophy. I remember how endless that extra minute of running seemed, when we added it each week, and how proud I was of my progress. I never thought about how long it took to run each kilometre – I just concentrating on actually making it through each kilometre. On the start line of the Cookie Run, I turned to our clinic leader and asked, “What would be a good time to complete this race?” She told me that somewhere around 30 minutes. My first time? 32:26. Was I disappointed? Nope. Never even occurred to feel let down. I was enthralled by this new person – this runner – I had discovered living inside my own body.

Honeymoon period: Having achieved one 5k race, I now felt like I had “been there, done that”. I moved on to ever-increasing distances – 10K, half-marathon, marathon – hardly looking back. Every once in a while, I’d find myself registered in a 5K run, and I always tried to improve my time just a little bit. However, the 5K always felt like it was not a “serious” distance and my efforts to improve my time were “just for fun”. Often, if I ran a 5K, it was simply because I hadn’t been training hard enough to run anything else. Although my times gradually improved, sometimes, I was just “getting out there”:

2007 “Emilie’s Run” – 28:00

2008 “Emilie’s Run” – 26:46

2009 Fall Colours 5K – 28:56 (a lazy period)

Commitment: Last year, in the midst of a serious effort to improve my marathon time, I started to think of the 5K differently. It became a natural extension of the speed training I had incorporated into my training schedule – a way to measure my progress. I set the goal of a 25-minute 5K – the predictor time for a 4-hour marathon. I have yet to achieve either of these goals, and eventually the 25-minute 5K became a goal in itself. However, my progress towards this goal has felt like one step forward and two steps back:

June 2010 Canada Day Run –  26:14

July 2010 National Capital Run – 27:28 (with as-yet-undiscovered low iron levels0

September 2010 Army Run – 25:39

March 2011 St Pat’s Run – 25:54

Today’s Ottawa Physio Run – 26:34

Recommitment: Today’s run was frustrating. I thought I’d be able to at least match or improve on the 5K time I logged just a month ago. It was the exact same course, and I’ve since run the 30k Around the Bay race, and been training pretty hard. But it was a rainy and windy day, I’ve been fighting a cold, I’m still recovering from logging 30K three weeks ago. I realized only a few minutes after I started the race that I didn’t have it in me today. And I was right. I ran almost a minute slower. In spite of that, I am not ready to give up on my 25-minute goal. Part of me wonders if I’ve plateau-ed. But another part of me thinks that a summer of speed work and a recommitment to my training schedule will allow me to, at least once, see the finish-line clock reading a time that starts with “24” as I pass by it.*

Why does it matter? It doesn’t really. That, and $4.61 will get me a coffee at Starbucks (or, rather, a grande tea latte, half-sweet with skim). But it’s exciting to have a goal. And I have to admit to getting a little kick out of being in the top 20 or so percent of my age category. Today, I actually finished third in my age group. Yeah, it’s cheap thrills because I think most people in 5K races are like me when I started – just in it to feel that sense of accomplishment from being able to run five kilometres. A little part of me still feels like that, too.

And … Ron Sexsmith: He is wonderful. A largely-undiscovered Canadian treasure. Here he is with Elvis Costello, who appreciates him, too:

 

A Tale of Two Runs

It was the best of runs, it was the worst of runs. It was an autumn of running goals achieved, it was an autumn of running goals ignored. It was a season of speed, it was a … oh, you get the picture.

 

I have gotten a ton of stuff done in the last eight weeks, but unfortunately very little of it has been running-related. And the results showed in two 5K events I ran throughout the fall.

 

First of all, the distractions. I finally, finally (finally) finished my most recent university course on managing change. Finally. And I don’t mind telling you, I did myself proud. Only had to hand in my final assignment once, and then rocked the exam and ended up with an A. So that’s done. Just three more courses to go in the certificate program I’m completing, but I’m not thinking about that for the next couple of weeks.

 

Secondly, we renovated our kitchen. What an emotional rollercoaster that was. It all went pretty smoothly, but I doubted myself at every step of the way. The cupboards were delivered and I decided I hated them and they were all wrong. Then I decided they were just fine and I loved them. Then I went through the same process with the counter, sink, backsplash and just about everything else. It was, to use a term coined by a friend, a full-blown bourgeoisie crisis. Yay for patient contractors. But it’s over now and we have a very nice kitchen and our only remaining problem is how to pay for it. Here are a few pictures of the renovation process:

 

 

    
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thirdly, the big hockey monster emerged from its summer hibernation and is now on the rampage, eating up our free time. This year, I’m the manager for my son’s hockey team, so I’m actually busier than he is, although he’s much faster on skates.

 

And, oh yeah, I did a little running. Very little, actually. Up until mid-September, I was training to run a half-marathon on the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend and had actually gotten my miles up to within spitting distance of the half. Then I came to my senses. My entire family (parents, sisters, spouses, niece, nephew) visited from Toronto on Thanksgiving weekend, and running a half mary on the same day as The Big Dinner would have been a little too much like running a full marathon. Or two. So I ran the 5K that morning and had a wonderful, relaxing run. Not too fast, but still managed to bring it home in under 30 minutes, which is pretty good for me.

 

Earlier in the fall, I ran another 5K during Ottawa’s Army Run weekend. Because I was actually running regularly back then, I was faster and completed that run in under 27 minutes. Not a PR, but close. I sprinted the last couple of hundred metres to get under 27 minutes and actually thought I might vomit after I crossed the finish line. I had to give myself a pretty stern talking-to about how pathetic it would look to vomit after a 5K race. In my book, you need to run at least 40K to earn the right to puke your guts out.

 

The Runner I Married, on the other hand, smoked in both those 5K races. At the Army Run, he ran a speedy 22:40 race, despite being hampered by the huge crowd of racers, and traumatized by cannon blast that started the race. At Fall Colours, he was even faster – ran the race in just over 21 minutes and came in second in his category. My hero.

 

My 15-year old son also ran the Army Run. We had a little bet going about who would finish first. I won’t say who won because apparently, gloating about besting your children in a foot race makes you a “bad mother”. However, he was only seconds behind me. Also, he is completely in my good books for getting up early (for a teenager) on Thanksgiving to walk the 5K with my Dad and actually enjoying himself while doing it. Here’s the evidence that he is a great kid and that my Dad is kicks butt as a walker:

 

Race times:

 

Army Run

Reluctant Runner: 26:58

The Runner I Married (TRIM): 22:40

The Truculent Teen: 27:40

 

Fall Colours

Reluctant Runner: 28:56

TRIM: 21:20

Truculent Teen and His Speedwalking Grandfather: 43:00

 

It's nice to be back blogging! I'm recommitting to writing and running over the next couple of months.

Back to Real Life

Legs: sore

Toes: blistered

Motivation: dangerously low

Yup, the post-race blues are here and I got ‘em bad. I hesitate to put this in writing because it sounds so … well … so suck-y. But I’m disappointed I didn’t achieve the time I wanted (I was off by just over two minutes), and I’m surprised how crummy I felt during the two days following the race. Head cold, digestive problems, and quads so sore that every time I walked anywhere, the thought bubble above my head read something like this: “Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch” (and so on, one “ouch” for each step). 

I think – no I know – I didn’t train as hard for this half-marathon as I did for my first one last spring because I don’t remember feeling this sore afterwards. And the idea of doing double this distance at the marathon in May? Horrifying. I know I will have to prepare better.

But there’s no time for wallowing in whiny self-recriminations. Today, I get back on the horse (otherwise known as the treadmill) for a very slow and easy canter … uh, run. On Thursday, I rejoin my marathon running group, which will be very good therapy.

In the meantime, I heard the following quote on The Cranky Middle Manager podcast and it seemed aimed right at me:

Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for. -- Epicurus