Run or Dye

Today was my second organized 5K "race".  I didn't do a whole lot of running as the terrain was very steep hills, some mud and a lot of slippery grass.  Instead we walked most of the course and had fun getting tye-dyed.

I started out the day all squeaky clean.

With my friend Kelly.

Before we even made it to the starting line, I was covered in purple.

By the end I was a rainbow of colours.

We had a blast and I'm so glad I did it.  

Running Club

When I first started running this year, I joined a learn to run program offered through Liam's school.  We met every Friday night for an hour.  It was great to have people to run with who offer encouragement.  Since that ended in June I've been running by myself.

I do enjoy running by myself.  It's nice to have time to reflect, lose myself to my tunes or listen to an audio book.  But I miss the encouragement.  Someone telling me that I can make it 5 more steps or matching their pace with mine so that we end a run together.

So I've decided to form a running group!  So far it seems to be just some of the people that were part of the original learn to run program, but I'm hoping that it will grow.  We'll meet at the school on  Friday nights for an hour, and collect a $2.00 donation - with all funds going to the school.  There are lots of quiet side streets and even a neighbourhood full of paved walkways far from any roads.  I'll research up coming runs in the city that we can join, maybe find some interesting articles to share and generally have fun.

Have you ever run a running group, or been part of one?  What did you like or hate about it?  All suggestions are welcomed.

Running Update

Now that the heat of the summer is over, I'm getting back into running again. After my first 5K in June I only got out a few times.  I did manage to run while on vacation, and even got my Mom to run with me!

Taking nearly a month off meant that I felt the need to start back with 5 and 6 minute intervals.  Without the push of a group or a specific training plan to follow, I found that I really had to convince myself that I could increase the intervals each week.  I pushed myself up to 8 minutes and hit a mental block about going any further.

Tonight I decided to try something completely different.  I had spoken to someone who had done the learn to run program with me and she is now running 10K without walking at all!!  She finds it easier to just keep running instead of stopping and starting.  If she gets winded or finds it hard to keep going, she simply slows her pace down for a bit, but never to a complete walk.

I admit that I was skeptical and really doubted that I would ever be able to run 5K without walking, let alone 10K.  So tonight I ditched my interval timer app and just turned on a stopwatch and my tunes.  I surprised myself by being able to run 12 minutes before I felt that I HAD to walk.  But I only walked for about 20-30 seconds, instead of a whole minute.  I did a full 5K, and yes I did walk several times, but only for short bits and I still felt great at the end of the run.  I think I might ditch the interval app completely and just listen to my body.