On Saturday, Wendi (my wife and founder of this blog) and I ran the Ashland YMCA Fritter 5K. While I have run the distance before in high school (not as part of a sanctioned race) and have walked a couple 5Ks, this was my first time running a 5K, if you can call it that. I think you can because, as my brother-in-law Shaun Vahl says, “If you have two feet in the air, you are running.”
So, how did I get there? My new physician encouraged me. My primary care physician had moved his practice out of the county, so I looked for another one in town. I remember when Dr. Tai Chi Kwok came to town. David Rhoad, who had worked in marketing for Wooster Community Hospital, told me what a wonderful physician he was. So, when it came time to look for a new doctor, I chose Dr. Kwok.
On my initial visit, he told me he would like to see me lose weight. I told him I planned on walking a 5K, to which he immediately replied: “Your joints are good. Why don’t you run one?” He suggested using the Couch to 5K program, C25K. I left the office not making any commitments and not really thinking about running a 5K. Then in the ensuing days, I thought, why not? I downloaded the app, and the next thing you know, Wendi and I are training to run a 5K. The program consists of running three times a week for eight weeks, and this was my first outing:
Running my first 5K was tough. It was difficult to catch my breath as soon as we took off on a chilly and rainy morning in Ashland. To make matters worse, I had been dealing with shortness of breath earlier in the week. I made a quick trip to Dr. Kwok to get checked out to make sure I could run. The heart and chest were fine, but it was incredibly difficult starting the race.
As soon as we took off, I was in the back of the pack with the sole walker. My running and her walking were about the same pace. And, so it went. I had a very slow pace, but as everyone told me: Run your race. I did just that. I wasn’t pretty; I wasn’t fast; but, I was moving. During training, the first few minutes were always the most difficult, so even though I struggled out of the gate, it did not deter me. Over a span of time that seemed like forever, I finally saw the Mile 1 marker. It aggravated me to see it. I was still having a tough time running and breathing. When I saw it, I thought that I would rather not know. Just let me keep on running, none the wiser. But, a funny thing happened after I crossed the mile marker: Running became easier. Or, perhaps I should say, breathing was easier. I was still slow, but now I was cruising along. Everything was ticking as it should.
This was a familiar pattern that played out throughout my training. Usually around the 21-minute mark I would find my groove. Something similar here. I was listening to Dream Theater’s Octavarium, a 24-minute song, and I got into that groove before the song ended. A similar thing happened to me when Wendi and I were training in Vermont while on vacation.
Throughout our training, people repeatedly told me not to worry if I had to walk. While I was not breaking any land speed records out there, I did not want to walk one step. That is why even when we were out of town for a blogging conference at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio …
at Central Park …
in Times Square …
at Revere Beach, Mass., …
or, Rumney Marsh Preservation Area between Saugus, Mass., and Revere …
we trained. We pretty much followed the C25K app to a tee: Running Saturday, Monday and Wednesday. Throughout the training I was concerned about the distance. I was just not running far enough. I had thought about immediately starting training for a 10K just to get in the extra distance, but it didn’t work out. However, I was able to go the distance, running every step of the way. As I was running the course, I kept thinking about a story I had read about Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots (you can read the story here). At the end of practice, Belichick would make his player run up hills. He would tell them, “Come on, let’s put it in the bank so it’s there when we need it.” The conditioning helped the Patriots beat the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI, and it helped them beat the Houston Texans earlier this year when the Texans’ defense got winded late in the game. I tried to get in a little extra distance during training so I would have something in the bank.
Dave Lohnes (of Dr. Dave’s Whiz Bang Science Show fame) came to the party a little late, so he ended up running the route in reverse and escorted me about the last mile or so. Jennifer Dilgard, walking with a dog, was right behind us. I joked that Jennifer brought the cadaver dog in order to find me.
I am so glad I was able to run the entire length, despite my slow pace. Wendi and I are running the Rich Dalessandro Memorial Fall Turkey 5K (thanks, Jan!), and I am hopeful I will finish in under one hour. (I finished in 1:00:43 and Wendi finished in 39:48.) Also, I wonder if they will have good apple fritters like the ones they served at the end of the Ashland YMCA Fritter 5K.
