10km ....a long way to run

Today I ran in my first 10k run in Victoria. The amount of people there running was amazing...over 13,000 people showed up to run and walk. Everyone happy and enjoying the companionship of friends. The sun shone brightly as we took off at 8 a.m. The first 4 km were pretty good...then I needed to stop and walk a bit, then back to running, arriving at the ocean around the 6km mark. I couldn’t help but notice the beauty around us and the wonderful ocean smells. People were out cheering everyone on, musicians playing along the way and thankfully some water stops.  6km – 8km was very hard going...I found myself stopping and walking bits here and there. The last 2 kms were harder still but there was the knowledge that we would soon finish and that kept me running.

Last summer when I decided to give this a try I had hoped to be able to run without stopping. Well I didn’t do the training I had planned on. I never pushed myself and quite often changed to walking. A friend that was also planning to run, kept at it and was way ahead of me in the training department. I had almost given up the idea of making it when another friend, hearing of my disappointment in myself, signed on to run with me. That was my saving grace. Having someone with you, encouraging you makes a huge difference.

So, as I sit writing this, I am in pain, my legs are done for the next day or two but I am happy to have finished the race. Looking back now it really went by very quickly and with some training maybe one year I will run the whole thing but I know I would have to dedicate many more hours to running and pushing myself, not giving up when I tire, but going that extra kilometre or two.

Lesson learned: Nothing really comes easy in life...you have to really want it and if you truly want to do something, you need to really work on it, plan ahead and make the time for it.