When I signed up for the 5K I did it on a whim.  I didn’t know if I would have enough time to train or if I would be able to run the entire course or if anyone was going to run with me.  When I lived with my parents, they had a treadmill that I would use almost religiously and run about 5 miles every other day.  Now, keep in mind that was more than 10 years ago and I haven’t really ran as much as I would like to in recent times.  Chasing my little girl around the house counts as running, right? 

Luckily, I got a three day trail at a fitness club, Equinox and signed up for some classes to try out the club.  Talking to my contact there, I told him that I was looking to get a little toned and he recommended some classes for me and my schedule was all set.  I signed up for a cross-fitness class, a boxing class and a hour long Pilates session.

Since I haven’t worked out in months, the last time was the Macy’s Nike event I did with Jeanette Jenkins, I didn’t know how I would do in these classes. Fortunately, I survived all the training and was ready for the 5K.  One drawback, was that I was very sore after the last day and I started getting sick.  Being sick made me start to have second thoughts about the run.  After a few minutes of going back and forth, I decided to go through with it.

The day of the run I woke up feeling like crap.  My stomach was hurting and my body wasn’t at 100%.  I still was having second thoughts about running and I was a little saddened by the fact that my wife and little girl were not going to be able to attend because the weather called for snow and I didn’t want them standing outside in the snow.  My drive there was a bit nerve racking because I’ve never done something like this before and I didn’t know what to expect.

When I arrived there, I was feeling a bit better and I ended up running into one of my wife’s friends who gave me a lot of great tips and helped my relax before the run.  As the announcement was made for the 5K runners to get into position, it finally hit me, that it was run or go home (or run home?).  As the door to the outside was opened I saw the snow coming down and thought, “It’s going to be too cold to run and I’m not going to make it.”

While waiting for the starting gun to go off, I decided to make one goal for the run: Don’t stop running!  I knew my body was still hurting, my throat hurt every time I swallowed and just walking to the starting line my legs were sore, but I kept saying to myself: Don’t stop running!  I kind of sounded like Dory from Finding Nemo, but instead of “Just keep swimming” my mantra was “Don’t stop running”  Ok, I know they don’t sound exactly the same, but you get the idea.  I ran and just kept focused on what was in front of me and didn’t stop for anything.  How did I do? Well, my final time was 36:58 and my pace time was 11:54. Not bad for being sick and running in the snow, huh?

After the run I felt so energized and wanted to run some more, so I decided that I am signing up for a few more runs in the upcoming months.  If anyone out there is willing to run with me or form some sort of group, I am open to it.  I think we should start a Fandad running group and do some of these runs together, perhaps in costumes, who knows.  

I kind of wished my little girl was there to see me run, it would of been a great experience for her.  One lesson I can show her is that no matter how bad you feel or sore your body is, as long as you put your mind to it you can accomplish anything.  I learned that that from one wise George McFly and you know what…he was right.

Thanks for reading and I’ll see you at a race soon,
Victor