I had two goals for this year's running of the TKPK5K (the local 5K that is run just a few blocks from my house). 1) Survive and 2) Beat last year's time. You might think this an easy task but, you see, I had a big hindrance affecting both those goalsL I did zero training. None. Zilch. Sure, I bike regularly now and I'd like to think of myself as a relatively fit guy (I did build a multi-ton patio after all). But I'd done no training for this race whatsoever. Never got on a treadmill to test myself. Never did a preliminary jog or 1-mile run to see what kind of endurance I had. Nope, I was a total idiot and just decided to wake up at 6:30 a.m. on a Sunday morning and go run a shade over 3 miles. Yeah, Kuni knows what I am.
Not training influenced my first goal, because who knew if my body would make it through the race. I certainly wasn't out there to break any records, and I could have just walked the damn thing and technically survived, but we all know that wasn't going to happen. The lack of training also greatly affected the second goal, because beating last year's time was not going to be easy, and that includes not having the wife holding me back (her words, not mine). Only 20 guys got a worse time than me last year, so I feared besting that.
So I woke up, walked over, and ran. And ran. Ran until it ended, and I'm almost talking about my body. Because that last quarter-mile that's all uphill did me no favors for my internal confidence. But I finished, and I fared way better this year. 68 guys finished worse than me, and I shaved 5 minutes off last year's time. I also beat a few kids, who should have WAY more energy than me. Wimps. So clearly, with no training, I'm now ready to conquer anything. I'll be out of pocket for the next few days as I scale Everest.
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