Do It For You: 5K Training

Even though I was in sports when I was younger, I never considered myself much of a runner. I remember running around the edges of the softball field for both softball and tennis and doing oh, so many line drills. I even was in track in 7th grade. In college, I played soccer, and we had to run several miles a week. I was so self-conscious about my running, that I ran at night so no one would see me. I didn't feel self-conscious about walking, though. Interestingly, perhaps purposefully, I lived right near many walking trails. Watching so many other people walking by and enjoying the trails made me want to walk and enjoy the trails as well.

I don't know how far I walked and for how many years. I would guess I averaged about 5 miles a day everywhere I lived. In 1997, I bought the book, "The Wish List" by Barbara Ann Kipfer, which I basically use as my life list. (I love this book so much that I have gifted it to several other people.) One of the things in the book is to complete a 5K. I thought to myself, "I could never do that. That's just not something I could do." Then, last year, a friend I actually met on the walking trail told me that I already was walking a 5K, so I could easily complete one.

Blooming shrubbery in my yard. 

I think sometimes we forget that we are already at the goal that we want to accomplish, but we need someone to remind us. We don't see ourselves for all that we are, and we need someone else to tell us. I don't know about you, but I have a few negative people in my life. They love to tell me everything that is wrong with me and all the things they don't like about me. I can tell you where that gets me -- nowhere. And, let's be honest, that's exactly their intention. They want to convince me that I am going nowhere, that nothing I do matters, and that I'm not good at anything. Because as long as they convince me of that, it validates their negative perceptions of me.

In all honesty, though, I have never walked for someone else. It is something that I do for myself. I am not out there to prove anyone wrong or to negate someone's diminishing attitude toward me. It is about me being outside and being in nature. It is something I like to do, so I do it.

This week and next week, I  am training for my first 5K of the season. Because of stay-at-home orders, the race is virtual. I am pushing myself every day to improve my time, even though I probably could do the race tomorrow. However, if I did that, I wouldn't be reaching the personal goals that I set for myself. My goal for this particular race is to start with the best time I had from last season and improve from there. Also, I want to hit my target time so that I can move on to my next goal, which is to do a 10K.

What motivates me to keep going? Myself. I want to achieve the goals I establish for myself. I want to prove to myself that I can improve every day, every week, every race. And, I do it for me.