Five years ago I started doing something that I hated because I wanted to improve my health and my quality of life.
Little did I know that I would learn to like, and eventually love it, and that it would keep me sane, happy, and focused in the coming years.When I was younger I always hated running. I always preferred to spend my time doing anything besides stamina exercises. So when I was little I was good at things that required short sprints, I was fast after all, but later I would tire easily and have to sit out early.
I held my disdain for running well into my twenties. I started body building in my early twenties and was very happy to have a muscular physique, but I knew I was missing stamina. I stopped exercising regularly for a few years, but then one day broke out my old running shoes and crawled my way through a one mile run. I got a bit of a runners high instead of my usual sick feeling because I allowed myself to go at a very slow steady pace rather than trying to race through a one mile run.
I started running more often, gradually increasing my distance until one day I ran over 3 miles, and realized I had done just shy of 5k. I told myself it should be pretty easy to shave off three minutes from my time and have a sub twenty-five minute 5k.
Over the next few years I was more serious and less serious about running at times. I was sidelined by an injury at the peak of my enjoyment of the exercise just a couple years ago while I was living in Las Vegas. At the time running was one of the few good things in my life that made me happy and during that time I felt pretty down and started drinking more instead.
I suffered an other setback moving to Bangkok and not really knowing where to run, or how the hell to run in the heat/humidity (in Vegas, after the sun went down I was fine). I finally figured out I could wake up early and go to the park (Sidewalks here are NOT conducive to running, unless you like running an obstacle course). So for the last nine months or so I've been putting in several runs a month.
Two weeks ago I set a personal record for the longest run I've achieved. I labored my way through a grueling eight mile (12.9km) run with more than 10 flights of stairs up and down in the middle of it. My sub 25 minute 5k was still eluding me though. Monday I managed to achieve what I thought was a PR of 25:50, but when I went back over my run log from the last 5 years I found a 25:30 5k! I was so close before, what stopped me?
Wednesday's I usually do longer runs, but today I wanted it. I set my Fitbit Surge to show my average pace and started running, I kept it at or below 8:00 and focused on my breathing, keeping a steady pace and steady breath, and after doing that for two miles and it was starting to hurt I kept going, no shrinking back on this, it's time to push the boundaries of where you're comfortable or you will not improve. I pushed ahead and my time started to slow second by second. Breathing steadily was becoming more taxing, but I kept my pace within only 15 seconds of my 2nd mile. When I felt my watch buzz for the 3rd time letting me know I had completed three miles in just over 24 minutes, I pushed myself even harder, just 550 feet to go, I did my best impression of a sprint, and somehow I did it.
I'm faster now and have more stamina than I did when I was in my twenties. It's because I have pushed myself to improve, to go past my comfort zone, to be better now than I was then. I'm looking forward to setting many more personal records in the future. I hope all of you strive to do the same.
