Well, the elements were certainly against me, but there it is! My first ever 10K done and in the books! That’s right, friends. This previous weekend was the culmination of over a year of work and weight-loss to take part in something that a year ago I was completely physically incapable of doing. And you know what? I liked it!
It was a bitterly cold and raining morning on Saturday, not exactly what you would call ideal running conditions. But there was no thunder and lightning, so the race was officially a go. As I stepped out of the van and into the rain, I did what anyone does when they go from warm and dry to cold and wet. My shoulders went up, my arms went around my chest and I started shivering. And I remember thinking to myself “There is no way I’m going to be able to do this! I can barely walk around out in this without my teeth chattering right out of my head!” But I was committed. I was going to give it everything I had and if I wasn’t going to make it, it was going to be because they had to carry me off the race path.
So I headed to the starting line along with my sister who was running with me, and I’m so glad she did. I think he helped to keep each other motivated. Neither one of us wanted to fall behind the other, so we helped each other keep pace throughout the whole race. And once the run began and we got maybe half-a-mile into it, my blood started pumping, my internal furnaced started blazing and the cold went away. After that, the cool air and the cold rain was actually a help more than a hindrance. Because it seemed to be keeping me cool and was actually pretty refreshing.
Now, normally in my practice running that I have been doing in my training to complete this run, I have had to break pace and slow down to a walk a number of times in order to catch my breath. But surprisingly, I didn’t need to throughout the whole 10K. Only broke pace twice, both times at the watering stations just long enough to grab and slug down a glass of water and then got right back into the run.
I finished my first ever 10K (and also my first ever timed run of any kind since childhood) with a time of 1:13:19. A year-and-a-half and 250 pounds ago, I wouldn’t have been able to slowly walk even a quarter of a mile without collapsing. And I just ran 6.2 miles and felt great afterward. It was an amazing feeling.
And I think I’m going to strive to keep doing more. I’m already looking into a number of runs that are coming up over the rest of the Spring and Summer. And in the few days since the big race in Champaign, I’ve already gotten back into training and ran that same distance in the gym and around town a couple of times, keeping my body used to the running.
And it is with the successful completion of that run that I have decided to move onto Phase 2 of the HMR program, which focuses on maintaining current weight while reintegrating more non-diet food into my eating routine. I’ll be focusing on what foods are best and which ones to stay away from, examining calorie counts, portion control and other strategies for keeping my weight down and not regaining the weight that I managed to get rid of during my time with the HMR program.
So here’s to more races, maintaining, and loving all the things I can do now that would have been impossible before!
Talk to ya next week!
-Tim
