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Running as a hobby


Cashmere
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  • 2 weeks later...

Alright, so.

 

I've mentioned a few times here and there that over the last 10 months or so I've been working out 5-6 days a week, mostly lifting weights with the occasional cardio day (HIIT workout, P90, whatever) thrown in. I peaked at 225 pounds last year and am back down to 182. This summer I've done the occasional bike ride, which I love. All this and I had not run mile 1 (because it sucks). Until last Thursday.

 

I work out at a buddy's dad's house -- they've got basically a full gym in the basement -- and he has been trying to get me to join on a Tuesday/Thursday routine he's gotten back into with some of his old buddies. At 4:40AM they bike 5 miles to one of the schools in the area then do a roughly 5K loop (It's actually 3.7 miles all told) on the surrounding roads. We live in country-suburbia so this is an awesome area to do it in. I had no problem with the biking but I was nervous about the run. I have seriously not run any distance for any length of time since freshman year gym class. But he kept pressuring me into going so last Thursday I relented. These are 50 year old guys. I'm 23. I'll be damned if I can't do what they can.

 

I was right about the biking, that's easy. Last Thursday I ran for the first time in 9 years. I walked once for about 100 meters about 1.4 miles into it, then again after another 1.4 (coincidentally) then finished out with the remaining .8 or so. Took roughly 36 minutes.

 

Today I made it the whole way without stopping in 34 minutes for 9:11 pace. That's a pretty big accomplishment for me. It's definitely not a hobby (because it sucks!) but I'm going to keep doing it.

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Odine, half the reason I like running is because I get to buy colorful moisture wicking clothes that feel so nice. Still rocking cotton most days because my hobby $ is limited.

 

Awesome job on your runs, Lucas! That last statement sounds like the famous last words of a non-hobbiest. :D

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Well since I last posted in this thread I have continued running, doing 6km every second day of the week. No walking, or stopping, managing to do it in just under 15 mins. Gonna up the pace a little more so I'm proper running the whole way (as apposed to jogging) then up the distance. I used to hate running as a kid, but now I love it. I'm fit for the first time in my life at the tender age of 30. Woop.

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  • 1 month later...

I signed up for 2 5K races this weekend. First one was a bit rough since I took the week off from running to rest an injury. It was a lot of hills and my endurance was terrible. Here's hoping the second one is faster! I think I will be sore before I even start though.

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Awesome! Lunchtime workouts are great to give you energy for the rest of the day. I find it's too easy to get busy and skip them, though, so I try to go before work. If I wasn't so lazy, I'd go over lunch more often.

 

Today's 5k was even hillier than yesterday's, but I managed to improve my time by 2 1/2 minutes. Didn't get my best time ever, but it was pretty close. My time was 28:35.

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  • 1 month later...

I am so excited for my turkey day 5k tomorrow. My whole family is doing it, and it will be the first for my mom, dad, youngest brother, and husband. I am going to run with my mom, so it won't be my fastest time, but I'm guessing it will be my most rewarding one.

 

Unless this stupid snow storm cancels my travel plans. :(

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We traveled despite the snow. We passed 5 accidents, one of which was a flipped tractor trailer. We stopped to pull the driver out since no EMS had arrived yet. Luckily 2 doctors and a nurse also stopped, so we got back on the road after he was safely out of the cab. The trip took 1.5 hours longer than usual, but I'm so glad we made it.

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  • 1 month later...

My first race of 2015 was an adventure. It was 25° and snowing/sleeting for the whole race. Rather than being a specific distance, it was a timed event where you ran as many laps as possible in 3 hours. Laps were 1.6 miles long.

 

Because the race was over an hour away, we met to carpool at 6:30 in the morning. Luckily the sleet didn't start until after we arrived because it took us 2 hours to get there after losing GPS and cell phone signals and getting lost.

 

We made it to the race with 10 mins for registration and warmups. I ran my first 3 laps with a friend at her pace and then a 4th lap on my own.

 

All said and done I did 6.4 miles of wooded trails and paved roads and was running for an hour and 20 minutes.

 

After I finished running, I was freezing from being sweaty and sleety but we still had over an hour to wait for the other 2 in our group to finish. I spent most of it bundled up in front of a propane heater with quick breaks to get hot chocolate and soup.

 

The trip home took less time even though the roads were icy and we had to go slow.

 

A hot shower never felt so good after all that!

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  • 3 months later...

I have decided to train for a half marathon this summer. A 5k is easy at this point, but I'm not fast so I thought I'd add distance instead of trying to cut time. I need to start logging the miles ASAP. At this point the furthest run I've ever done is 6.4 miles. I have a long way to go!

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