Allyson | Week Three | Just Run

I am SO SO SO excited! Colin and I will be running in the Cleveland Color Run at the beginning of June! Listen, people, I hate running…seriously, it grosses me out. BUT, this 5K is absolutely the most fun anyone could possibly have while running! I participated in this fabulous 1/8-marathon last summer with a group of girls and we had the time of our lives!  If speed or getting a good race time is your main concern, however, you will miss out on all the fun of being blasted with colored powder as you approach each kilometer. By the end of the race you are a beautiful rainbow of sweaty powder, but you feel amazing because 1) you just accomplished completing a 5K, and 2) you just had a ton of fun!

Prior to the Color Run, I had run two other 5Ks.  Colin is a runner and has been running in 5Ks forever, but I would always just sit on the sidelines and cheer him on as he passed.  I never thought I would run one because, like I said above, I hate running.  Being overweight doesn’t help matters when you try to run, either.  However, that first summer when I started losing weight I made it my goal to run the Buhl Day 5K on Labor Day…and I did!  I trained all summer with the Couch to 5K app on my phone.  Long story short, Colin thought I was quitting and he went on without me so I started crying, then it started raining, then I started walking, but then God sent a wonderful woman to me who came up beside me and encouraged me to keep with it and we finished together! It was probably the most miserable 37 minutes of my life, but I felt like a rockstar when I was done and all my family was there congratulating me. 

My first 5K

My second 5K was a couple months later around Thanksgiving.  I participated in a 5K fundraiser for a young boy with cancer.  I got a friend to sponsor me, but he said he would give me way more money if I could finish in less than 35 minutes.  I thought that was never going to happen since my first experience was around 37 minutes, but I wanted to get as much money for that little boy that I could, so I worked hard to prepare, and then moved my booty without ceasing during the race and finished in 33 minutes!

Even with this blog and the great support and encouragement from the other writers, I have just been having a hard time getting motivated to buckle down and work towards my goal. Even though I made a goal of losing the 10 or so pounds I gained this past year, I didn’t have a definite time of when to reach that goal.  Well, now I do.  I want to have at least 7 of those pounds lost by the Color Run, and a new goal is to run a 10-minute mile.  I am not planning on running a 10-minute mile AT the run, because I want to slow down to get colorful (!!), but prior to the race I want to be able to run a mile in 10 minutes or less.  To help me achieve that goal, I will be following The Color Run’s 8-week training plan.  I’m not a brand new runner, but I am rusty, so this is a good program for me to follow.  It also uses interval training, which I prefer.

If you have the slightest interest in running, or would just like to feel the wonderful accomplishment of completing your first 5K, I would suggest a few things: 1) Set a date and REGISTER! It will do you no good to say, “oh, I think I’ll run the Gobble Wobble,” and then not register.  If you register, then that means you are really going to do it so you better get your booty moving! 2) Tell people! If you tell people you are going to do a 5K it will help keep you accountable by knowing that others know and that they are expecting you to do it. 3) Train at least eight weeks prior to the event with a high intensity interval training (HIIT) plan. Try the Color Run’s plan or try a Couch to 5K. 3.5) Purchase good running shoes.  Check out a store like Second Sole that will spend time with you, fit your feet, and find the right pair of shoes for you. 4) Have fun! Try not to be competitive with the other runners, just set out to have fun and know you are accomplishing a goal. For first timers, I would SO HIGHLY recommend the Color Run because it’s FUN, not competitive, and it’s not even timed! 

"No matter how slow you go, you are still lapping everyone on the couch."