Total lifetime tracked distance: 111 KM
Today’s run: 7 KM
As you may remember from running log — 0002, I mentioned that I was looking into joining a local running club. Well, I decided that I needed to increase my level of accountability with my running, and joining a club was exactly what I needed.
I’ll be honest; I was quite nervous going into my first session. I haven’t been around many people in the past few months, and this was a new group of people. After pumping myself up all day to go through with the running session, I was able to find the five minutes of courage to get the journey started.
So, there I was, at the meeting point. I had done a very light 1.55 KM warmup, as well as some stretching right before. I was feeling ready, but lacking confidence in my ability to keep up with the small group I would be running with today.
The coach explained our loop for the day, as well as the specific workout we were going to do. I nodded along and got on the “start line” with the group. Then, we were off. Everyone started a bit fast for me, considering the distance we were planning on doing today.
I ran in the back section of the group, beginning at 5:25/KM for the first portion of the run. As the distance slowly ticked by, I started to ramp up my pace, but, no matter how much faster I went, the group in front of me opened up a bigger and bigger gap.
As the pack mentality faded inside of me, I had to rely on my internal motivations.
With just over a KM left, I started repeating a mantra in my head “How often do you get an opportunity to feel pain in a productive way”. This surely carried me through that last KM faster than I had thought possible.
Now, into the stats (what everybody cares about).
I ran a 5 KM in 26:03 and had an average pace of 5:12/KM. For my measured 5K’s I beat my time by two minutes!
I guess all I can say is; how often do you get a chance to feel pain in a productive way?
