Fun with five... km.

It's been a while since I've posted anything to do with fitness, but as we all know - activity is an essential part of healthy living!

From my previous posts about running, you will know that I have a sort of love-hate relationship with running.  I do like to run, really I do.  I like that it gives me time outside, that I don't need any special equipment or need to spend any money doing it, and I like the feeling of a body-mind connection that I feel when I run - I can refocus my run and feel lighter in motion by concentrating on deep full breathing and letting go of distractions in my head - much like the reasons that I enjoy yoga!

However.

Running and I don't always get along.  My knees have taken a beating over the years - in fact, before I took my first step in a running shoe, my left knee was already having some trouble (which had improved while I was losing weight, but never fully recovered).  The knee trouble has radiated out to other foot and hip instability, including plantar fasciitis and SI joint jamming (wheeeee).  However most definitely the thing that I dislike most about running is my own self-judgement.  I do like the competitive spirit and love it when I can beat my own time or pace from a previous run, however, I tend to get very judgmental of myself when I don't achieve a goal.  We may recall the time when I ran the TYS10K, had really nasty GI issues and knee pain, and ended up running my slowest 10K ever.  The mental bad-talking that resulted from this epic fail put me in a downward spiral and feeling really crappy about running.  I didn't want to do it again for a very long time.  I canceled my half marathon scheduled a few months later, because I stopped training altogether.  

I did eventually talk myself out of that funk and got back to running, and ran the Oasis Zoo Run 10K later that year (in a faster time than I had run the TYS10K, thank you very much).  But I realized that running wasn't fun when it was making me depressed about my body's limitations when they became limitations.  I wanted to feel good about running for all of the reasons that I actually enjoy running.

As a result, this year I'm running with a different intention in mind, and choosing events that will help me reconnect with my feet on the pavement rather than the time on the chip.  I signed up for a few 5k runs where I may or may not be timed, and where fun takes priority over competition.  I decided to reduce my distance from 10k to 5k, because I've noticed that once you get past 5k, runners tend to take themselves way too seriously.  The 5k runs are where all the fun stuff happens - crazy costumes, strange theme runs, and they tend to be more accessible to all age and ability groups.

Case in point: 

A few weeks ago, boyfriend and I ran Colour Me Rad, a 5k run in which every kilometre or so a squad of volunteers pummels you with coloured cornstarch, leaving you at the end of the run looking like you ran through a rainbow.  It rained.  A lot.  By the end, I was soaking wet, had green cornstarch stuck in every crevice, and was coughing colours.

I have no idea how long it took to run the 5k.

It was awesome.

My next upcoming run is the Midsummer Night's Run, also a 5k.  This run also has a 15 and 30km option, but I stuck with the 5k.  Why?  Because the 15 and 30k people are the hardcore runners, where the 5k people dress in fairy costumes and prance through the park and have a blast.  I want to be a person who has a crapload of fun prancing around the Toronto Island!

In the meantime, I've enlisted the help of the Running Room's 5k clinic to improve my endurance and form for my upcoming runs, because I want to be able to focus more on the fun than on feeling uncomfortable while running or dealing with achy knees/feet instead.

I do hope that this 5k/fun-run strategy gets me back into the spirit of running and reignites my interest in running longer distances, because the 10k runs I've done in the past were fabulous and I would love to do them again.  But, I want to return to them stronger in mind and body, and feeling like I am there to enjoy myself rather than to beat myself up.