Running and I have gravity, because I keep coming back to it even when I’ve been gone for what feels like forever. I guess me and this blog have gravity, too.
Here I am, realizing just now that I never even posted about the two races I did in 2022. They weren’t PRs or monumental occasions, so there was no real urgency to document them, I guess.
When I first started running, and for the first several years, I kept all my bibs in a binder and labeled them with the time I ran and the date of the race. I haven’t done that in so long. I guess 13 years after I started running, the novelty of races wore off. Especially as I have grown older and had a baby and life has gotten in the way.
But, here I am again, wanting to come back. We are in the midst of months of excessive heat every single day, and the opportunities to walk, much less run, seem so few. I could finish a 5K right now but it would involve a lot of walking and likely be my worst time by far. Even so, I find myself itching to try, to embrace the fall season coming up that I love for so many reasons.
First, I want to go back and just have a link on here noting the races I did last spring. I was really motivated for a time trying to get back into running and these races were part of my goal. I didn’t particularly enjoy either race, sadly, because I still wasn’t really trained for them. They felt harder than I remembered running being, and I was embarrassed of my need to walk during the 5-miler. Alas, doing them and finishing them, even slowly, is better than not trying at all.
First, in April 2022, I did the Great Gator 5K.
This was about five minutes from my house, so it was super easy to get there on that Saturday morning, do the 5K, then go home. No fanfare, nothing special. Despite it still being April it was really chilly, which is why I wore long sleeves and pants. I was surprised they used the old school resuable chips that you have to zip tie to your shoes – I always struggle with those!
I’m surprised to look back in my emails and see that my time was 29:51. That’s not bad! Breaking 30 minutes is not something I’ve always been able to do for 5Ks. That was nothing to be upset about.
Then in early May 2022, I did the Uptown 5-Miler. I chose to do the 5-mile rather than the 5K because I wanted to challenge myself to go a little further in a race, and it did turn out to be a challenge.
I remember having to walk in the last mile, and the guy who had WON the race was walking in the opposite direction as me, already going home. He gave me some verbal encouragement, which was nice, but it made me feel embarrassed. I have run 5 miles speedily and with no struggle so many times, and for a RACE I couldn’t even just not walk.
But again, I know that I shouldn’t have been ashamed. I was trying to get back into running after pregnancy and a long first year of motherhood, and that in and of itself was worth celebrating.
My final time was 51:24. Again, nothing to be mad about.
I haven’t done any races since these, but I think I really want and need to try and embrace this time of year coming up and get back into it.
And even if I have to walk during, even though my times aren’t going to be what I’ve managed in the past, just the fact that I am doing it at all needs to be enough for me. Better than letting another year pass me by of not running when I am physically capable and healthy enough to do it.
I never have wanted to take that for granted, but all too often I have.