Running update (for anyone who cares)

Last week, I ran in my first 5K of the season, the Capitol Memorial Run along the River Trail in downtown Lansing. My goal headed in was to run it in under 30 minutes, a relatively modest goal. I was pretty certain I could do it because I'd run several training runs in under 30 minutes, with the fastest one somewhere around 28:45. Still, there's always that lingering, "Can I really do it?"

I'm happy to say that I DID do it, and my time was 27:41, which is the fastest 5K time I've ever run. Now, I'm not satisfied with this. I figure that if I've made it this far in one year, who's to say that I can't get the time under 25 minutes in the future. After all, there were five runners in my 45-49 age group and I was STILL only fourth of the five. The fastest of us knocked it out in 21 minutes and change. Second place was somewhere in the 23 minute range, with third place at 24 minutes. Then there was me at 27:41.

It's important as a runner to set goals. In the beginning, all I wanted to be able to do was run 20 solid minutes without stopping; then I wanted to run 30 minutes without stopping; and finally the goal was to run five kilometers with no regard to how long it took me to do it. I've accomplished all those, but still feel that I haven't "conquered" the 5K distance. For that reason, I'm shooting for a sub-25 minute time and maybe, just maybe, coming away with a medal in one of these races. It won't be the end of the world if I never win a medal, because there are so many excellent runners in my age group who have been running for much longer than I have, but I don't think it's beyond the realm of possibility for me to achieve these goals.

You may be asking yourself, "So Mark, do you plan on ever running anything beyond the 5K?" The short answer is "No." I feel like five kilometers is the perfect distance to run--for now. I go out and run about 25 to 30 minutes and I'm done. I really don't currently have any desire to run more than about a half-hour per workout. Having said that, I won't rule out the possibility that I could eventually become bored with this distance and decide to shoot for 10K. Who knows?

Ultimately, I have to keep in mind that the reason I got into running in the first place was to get in better shape. I'm happy to say that has been successful. I haven't felt his good since at least my early 30s. I've lost weight, my body feels much more flexible, I sleep better, and I'm more confident about life in general.