This past week marked the final week of my Couch to 5K training program and they were all big runs - at least that's how they felt to me when I looked at the amount of time I was supposed to spend running.
In the previous week I had pushed myself a couple of times and ran through the 5-minute cool down, which boosted my overall running time to 30 minutes. And I was pretty proud of this but I wanted to make sure it wasn't a fluke, that I could actually do that more than once. So with those last three C25K runs (2 x 28 minutes, 1 x 30 minutes) I was cautiously optimistic of my success but also aware that it may not work out after all.
Turns out I needn't have worried.
The first 28-minute run I stuck to the 28 minutes and was almost able to do it; I hit 20 minutes and needed a quick walking break, so after a minute of catching my breath I ran the remaining 7 minutes. It was a bit discouraging but setbacks are to be expected, right?
The second 28-minute run went much better though; I was able to push through the extra 5 minutes at the end and top out at 33 minutes of running. I also turned on my RunKeeper app to track distance - and I clocked in at 4.9km! While I was a bit disappointed that I didn't hit 5km, I was also completely surprised that I'd even made it that far. Woot!
Then last night was the final run of the program, 30 minutes. Again I set RunKeeper to track my distance and suddenly I found myself running...and running...and running...until I'd topped out at 6km.
SIX FREAKING KILOMETRES!
Given, 0.7km of that distance was my walking warmup but still - I managed to hit 5km!
I gotta say, I'm pretty proud of myself. When I first started the program and had to do some of the first long runs (you know, 5 and 8 minutes) they were HARD. And there were times when I was pretty sure I couldn't do it and that I should just forget it and find another activity. I'm not really sure why I kept going; maybe deep down I was actually enjoying running (and now I can admit that I do enjoy running). Whatever the reason, I'm glad I kept at it. And the humidity has also helped, which is pretty much the only thing I like about the humidity. The warmer air helps make breathing easier for me. It will be interesting to see how the cooler air of fall affects me but I'm hoping I can ride the wave of summer running success into the fall and overcome any obstacles.
Overall I'm ridiculously pleased with myself and I have no problem bragging just a little!
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