Monday, August 30, 2010

5k Recap (Finally!) and New, Slightly Crazy Goal

Venus in our jogging sky

I only jog outside and usually at night. The common time C (my sister) and I have on the week days is after work. Dinner gets in the way. If I eat after jogging, I can go at around 7 or 7:30. If I eat before jogging we don't go until after 8pm. Either way, the sun is just about to set or has already gone down. My neighborhood happens to have a great view of the western sky so we get some amazing pink/purple/orange sunsets. Venus has been watching us jog for a while now. It's really beautiful.

C and I are doing this 5k training plan right now and just finished week 7 yesterday. We've been pretty bad at keeping to the schedule but have gone out about 2 times a week for the last 6 weeks. We were struggling and procrastinating at first but really did well this past week.

Tuesday we did 2 miles and walked the final mile.
Thursday we jogged the 2 miles.

Saturday we jogged THE ENTIRE 3 MILES!!

I'm shocked. This is the furthest we've ever gone. It took us 42 mins, so still really slow, but we jogged the entire time, no walking breaks.

8/28/10
Run Time: 42:01
Run Distance: 3.04 miles
Ave Pace: 13:49/mi

~~~~~~<<<<>>>>~~~~~~

On May 20th, I ran walked a 5k (actually 3.5 miles), my first "race" ever. I'm not sure why but I haven't really known what to say about it.

It went pretty well. I had fun. I actually enjoyed doing it. I want to, and probably will, do another.

It also brought disappointment and frustration though.

I had big plans to build up to jogging at least 3 of the 3.5 miles. C and I were doing well and had gotten to a straight 2.5 miles, slowly, but jogging the entire way. Then we fell off the wagon. Mostly because I got sick with something that left me coughing for weeks. I was still coughing until halfway through my cruise, which was after the 5k (one afternoon on the cruise I realized I hadn't coughed at all and was sooo happy).

I knew with the coughing thing that I couldn't jog so I took a lot of time off from exercise and went for walks right before the 5k. By the time May 20th came around it had been more than 3 weeks since I had jogged at all.

The crowds at the 5k were amazing. It was packed shoulder to shoulder at the starting line-up, which was mildly unpleasant, but I'm ok with large crowds so it didn't bother me much. Since the pack was so large, it took forever to get to a place where you could move around enough to jog. This was actually a blessing since the first bit of the route was uphill ;) After about 15-20 minutes the crowd thinned down enough to move around a bit. I jogged for maybe 1 mile of the whole thing, if that. I was just so winded (and still coughing a bit).

5/20/10 (5k day)
Run Time: 53:24
Run Distance: 3.54 miles
Ave Pace: 15:06/mi

So yeah, I was disappointed. Not at the finish time specifically but because I couldn't jog for most of it like I had planned. It is a good time to try to beat for my next race I guess! :)

~~~~~~<<<<>>>>~~~~~~

That brings me to my current goal.

In March of '09 I asked myself if it was possible to become a "runner" (this post). I think I succeeded. I might not technically be a real "runner" but I'd say the ability to jog for 3 miles without stopping, however slowly, qualifies me as a jogger. This is something I never ever thought I'd be able to do.

Now I'm asking myself if it's possible for me - a kind of, half-assed jogger - to run/walk a half marathon.

13.1 miles

I read about a half in Las Vegas on December 5th and I'm seriously considering doing it. The main thing that attracted me to this one is that it's walker-friendly, as long as you can finish the half in 4 hours or less. (and I'd love to go to Vegas again! I haven't been in 10+ years.)

C and I are planning to do this novice training plan next. We don't expect to jog the entire 13.1 miles and will walk any part of the training runs that we need to in order to finish the required mileage.

But...

Can we really walk 13 miles??

Sometimes I think, "if we can jog for 3 miles, then jogging/walking 13 is definitely doable." Other times I think, "jill, wtf. 13 MILES! What are you thinking?!"

We have 14 weeks to train.

It's definitely possible... but, can we really do it?

13 comments:

  1. Wow! Way to go on your recent running progress! Awesome!!

    And I'm too intimidated by distance myself, but I totally think you can do a half marathon, if you really want to! I may eventually get over myself, but for now, 10k is about the farthest I want to go in one stretch (but then again, I'm a wuss!).

    Yay! So cool!

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  2. YES ! You can do anything you set your mind too girl ! I am proud of how far you have come ! Keep up the amazing work !!! Both of you :)

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  3. Wow - this is awesome! I'm so very proud of you!!!

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  4. You can totally do it! I think you will feel great!

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  5. You can totally do it! If you already know you're going to run/walk it, I suggest you train that way too. Light jog and brisk walk intervals would be great.

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  6. You can do it! I walked a half marathon in April and it was an amazing experience. I did a training program, but was not already walking as you are doing (I know you are jogging, but I didn't even try jogging it, I just walked).

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  7. Of course you can do it! And that picture is gorgeous...what a great motivator to continue half-ass jog? :)

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  8. I should really proofread my comments first. That should have read:

    ...what a great motivator to continue TO half-ass jog!

    Either way...keep it up!!!

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  9. AWESOME job on jogging for 3 miles straight and Oh my gosh!!! DO IT!! That is plenty of time to train!! In fact... that makes me want to do it! I sooo want to do a half so badly! Actually, I'd like to do a mile at this point! (I need to blog and get caught up but no running for me :(
    Keep up the awesome work! You so just inspired me!!

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  10. Um, you are such a runner and hell yeah you can do anything girl! I am still so envious in a good way. xoxo

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  11. I'm betting yes, you can. You will. Congrats to you and C for aiming for such a goal!

    Lovely pic of Venus.

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  12. Well done on the 5k that is brilliant news!! Congrats too on the 3 miles of straight out jogging, you are definitely a bona fide runner now (though I already thought you were before anyway!).

    I did a half a few years ago and it was a challenge but I was so proud when I crossed that finish line - I am sure that you guys can do it!!

    Good luck and I will be checking our your progress!!

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  13. Congrats on the 5k and 3 mile jog! I think you should go for the half marathon. It's great that you and C can support each other as you both reach your goals. I bet you would have such a great time in Vegas too! Good luck to you both.

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