2012 Commences

Time:  20 minutes
Distance:  1.89 miles
Location:  Apple Valley to Sitting Bull

It's a late start, but I finally began running again after a 9-month hiatus.  Last year, after a typically inactive winter, I was able to get my running going in April.  This year starting it up again proved to be a little more difficult.  My run tonight actually may not have even happened had it not been for my friend Scott suddenly getting involved in 5Ks.  He asked if I wanted to run in a 5K in Temecula this weekend, but I knew I wasn't ready.  However, just the invitation got something going in me, and I decided to look for upcoming 5Ks I could prepare for.  I ended up finding one right up here in the desert on June 30th, the Mojave Narrows 5K, and I asked Scott if he'd be interested.  He said yes and I knew it was go time!  June 30th is about 8 weeks away, which should be plenty of time to prepare.  So I decided to stop the procrastinating and begin training today.

The first thing I decided to do was alter my training regimen.  Usually I go for distance and try to better my time for that distance.  But this constant pressure to better my time can work against me.  So I decided to flip it and focus on time and leave the distance out of it more or less.  Since my main goal at this 5K and future 5Ks and 10Ks and even marathons is simply to run the whole thing, I decided to set a time goal and slowly increase that time so that by the end of 8 weeks I should be able to easily run 3 miles without much difficulty.  I decided on 20 minutes as a good starting time.  Where I went didn't really matter.  So I set out from my house and ended up heading south toward Ottawa Rd and out to Apple Valley Rd.  From here I headed south toward Sitting Bull Rd.  It was a route I ran a couple of times last summer.  I like it because the majority of the run is along a nicely paved trail away from the neighborhood.  Overall the run was good.  Not having run in 9 months I didn't even know if I'd be able to sustain 20 minutes!  But I was able to run the whole time, albeit very slowly.  I felt good for the first 5 minutes, then a small cramp set in.  For the last 10 minutes I was feeling some knee pain and by the end I was almost running with a limp.  But, again, 9 months off will do that to you!  I only made it 1.89 miles in those 20 minutes (I ran 2 miles on that same route on July 10, 2011 in 17:56).  Right now a 5K would easily take me more than 30 minutes, so I have my work cut out for me.  But I'm confident I'll be able to get my times down and my stamina up in time.  I'm just pumped that I've finally kickstarted my training!  This means summer is near.  Vacation time!