The time I ran a 5K (and didn’t train).
Me and the paternal parental unit at the finish line.
Sometimes I get this uncontrollable need to do something. It usually hits me when the weather is at an extreme, or my life has been stagnant for a while. The weather was the culprit when a few months ago I got an urge to do a Mud Run. For those of you unfamiliar with this particular activity, it is essentially some length run (it varies depending on the people holding the run) that takes place along a trail that is usually a little muddy, but not terribly. The name comes from the giant mud pit you run through at the end, coming out the other side looking like Hugh Jackman when he exited the sewer in the Les Miserables movie (think blackface done completely with human waste).
To me, this sounded like the greatest thing in the world. My brain conveniently left out the part where I don't run, have never really been a runner, and have pretty bad exercise and virally induced asthma. Like old man smoking his last cigarette as he wheezes oxygen from a breathing tube bad. As a disclaimer, I have to say that this blog post does not involve me doing a mud run. I couldn't find someone to do it with me (that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it).
So instead of the hilarity and frivolity of a mud run, I needed to find an alternative, now that my brain was set on running in some sort of organized race. After moments of research on the good old internet, I found a 5K run that was taking place in Toronto... the day after my birthday. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the best idea is to do a run the morning after you celebrate your birthday. Especially if you don't train for it.
And so the morning arrived, and I woke up early and dragged my groggy self into some workout clothes, hopped on my bike, and booked it over to the Brickworks to meet up with my dad to do the run together. We registered, did the crappy warmup led by a woman we couldn't hear, but who was wearing some pretty snazzy 90s workout gear. (For those of you at home wondering, it was the Walk For Life held by the Cardiac Health Foundation of Canada.) And then came the big moment, the make or break pinnacle of my life (well, it would have been if I hadn't made it to the end), and off we went zigzagging through the crowd of people who decided to pace themselves. Psh, who really needs to pace themselves when you can go all out at the beginning, and then regret it for the rest of the run.
I passed some people, I got passed by many more people (including some children), and I listened to some pretty sweet hiphop and rap (thanks Marta for giving me that music) and I ran my heart out. We approached the finish, and figuring it's now or never, I gave it my all.
We crossed the finish line at 43:00 (I like to have pretty numbers), and all in all I thought that was pretty good.
So the moral of the story is it is all possible, even if the fastest person there did it in 18:something. The point is I still did it. Sure I may have done better if I had trained at least a little, or was more naturally athletically inclined. But I'm not, and I'm glad I didn't let that stop me.
Next time will be one of (or all of): mud run, zombie run, colour run or maybe a marathon. Wish me luck!
