How I Reached 5k

Catchy title to draw in reader? Check.

Good photo (at least for context to relate back to title)? ...Eh...

Personal anecdote? Forthcoming

Annoyingly long tease...?

Anyway, for the few of you on Vocal and Facebook who DON'T know yet, I've been on the FitBit program since Christmas Day 2020 after struggling with my body image most of my life and requiring encouragement and motivation to do better; for my health, for public perception, and for my own self-esteem.

I've always enjoyed a good long stroll outdoors to go meet friends downtown (when I wasn't enjoying a good swim in the pool). When it came to ever getting up and leaving my office computer/PS4 to get some exercise, it was usually to go for a good stroll.

Those "good strolls" were only so good for burning calories; then, as I kept taking walks, my walking gaits got QUICKER and more stable. Soon, I was taking 2-3 walks from home into town per day; if not taking walks around the track at the gym or the home treadmill.

13 months into a FitBit program, I was getting (about 80% well-intentioned, I'm sure) remarks from OTHERS about the RESULTS that THEY were seeing in me. Something about the commentary about my "new" body type had me convinced that I could do MORE! I was going to PROVE that I was ready for...my very first 5k; or any OTHER marathon (that was NOT a gaming or YouTube-binging session).

South Haven had IceBreaker Weekend again this year after bypassing last year because...February-2021-Reasons. It featured Ice Carvings, Sled Races, a chili-cookoff, a Pub "Slide," and...could it be...its very own "Break The Ice 5k Run/Walk."

...So, no, ambitions to do a 5k, kind of like ambitions to start a fitness program in the first place, don't happen in a vacuum. I had lost a chance to got to an IceBreaker last February and I was HYPED to go back. This time, I might even do something that WASN'T taste testing 10 different chilis so that the ballot would count at the end of the day. I talked to quite a few friends (more fit than I, trust me) who had done 5ks before who took a good look at the person asking and still offered encouragement. One such encouragement was "If this race starts at 10, you do what you want; but you're DUE in town again by 11."

(My buddy wasn't wrong; I had agreed to help with collecting for heating assistance for a couple of hours and our local Knights of Columbus has been short of volunteers lately).

PREPARATION

...Without really thinking about, I HAD (sort of) completed a 5k last November into December in walking around the track at the gym just often enough (in spurts of between 4-10 laps per session; over the course of about 5 visits) to complete a 5k. This part of the anecdote didn't occur to me until just now or I'd have felt even MORE confident in this wacky endeavor before.

So, it became clearer and clearer that we COULD have an Icebreaker Weekend this year complete with all of its opportunities (including, but not limited to, said race). Something in my mind clicked with excess confidence and I was ready to give my confidence in my abilities...well, a good run.

(...Thanks; I'll be here until I decide that this is publishable).

$30, and the promise of a t-shirt, later, I was READY! THIS was going to happen. I received life advice. I had ENCOURAGEMENT! I had supporters over social media. My family didn't outright suggest that I have my head examined (though my father turned STRAIGHT to my younger sibling to give her access to more about my life, then he turned right around and felt it appropriate to share her horror stories).

...No matter; I was DOING this!

I had a mission, I was going to complete it...hopefully in under an hour, lest I "fail the Knights of Columbus Council" and "am not collecting for heating assistance in a timely manner."

I CAN DO THIS!

I have support from my friends and community!

I've been walking a lot more lately!

We now have a TREADMILL in the basement!

...The START of a 5k isn't too far-fetched; along with ENDING one in a timely manner. (Besides, I'm out $30 for registration and a t-shirt).

RACE DAY

...It's TIME!

It is RACE DAY!

...I just have to get through breakfast; and one more argument with my family about whether or not I AM very much capable of DOING THIS!

Long story short, I walked into town with it hanging over my head how my family now felt "victimized" and with breakfast now in my gut. Let's just say it was now an hour before race time and I was no longer feeling nearly as confident in this endeavor.

I showed up to announce myself and pick up my t-shirt and race "bib" (the number).

It was a half-hour to forty five minutes before race time. I took a brief jog down by the beach and back up. Groups of people who had shown up to race TOGETHER (thereby supporting one another) were running a gamut of exercises/jogging back and forth. Some of my fellow runners/racers were there with friends/family; and I had left for town after having a fight with my own...

10:00. RACE TIME!

I visit with some of my fellow competitors. Some of them have brought their dogs and I'm meeting a few of them as well. Suddenly, the line begins to move. Here we go!

My burst of speed and jogging must only last for about the first 5-10% of the race. I'm swerving in, out, and around others to keep in step with the pack.

Then, competitors whom I had passed before are declaring that I make way for them. Then, I can no longer see the fellow racers whom I had passed before. I'm just a guy jogging in his GVSU coat, hat, gloves, and a stupid looking face mask as the only racer who apparently read the part about how racers "are" to be masked...

I'm probably 60% of the way through the race and I am gassed. Then I hear her voice...

"Come on; let's go, Grand Valley!"

A "Sister Laker" has recognized the "GVSU" on my coat and, after some back-and-forth at a strolling gait, I'm READY to GO all over again.

The very attractive woman whom had just cheered me on must now witness my tail disappearing again. At this point, it's probably 30* but I'm 70% of the way through a 5k race and must now CARRY a heavy winter coat, hat, gloves, and a face mask that I had already dropped on the ground, rendering it useless to me until it can be sufficiently washed again.

I'm keeping as good of a running gait as I can for CARRYING my wardrobe; and consistently checking over my shoulder for my new friend and "cheerleader" that I might at least encourage her along in the same way that she encouraged me.

I reach the beach again. Paydirt! I've found the finish line. 5k begun; and 5k DONE!

...It only took around the neighborhood of 36:21; in my very first 5k.

I took in the rest of Icebreaker. Friends stopped to ask about the race as I still wore the shirt and carried the "race bib." STRANGERS who were feeling more celebratory and far friendlier to have Icebreaker Weekend BACK this year stopped to ask me about it. It felt good.

I had finished what I had started. I sensed that I had finished what I had started in around the bottom 85-90% of the pack but I had finished...

Finally, I had to look it up on line and I had finished roughly 130 out of 182 participants; closer to 73%. I had done BETTER than I had thought!

My first 5k is officially in the books. I'm not certain if it's my LAST 5k just yet. I won't be taking home any trophies in my next 5k, should I choose to go again; and that's okay too. In the meantime, I'll continue to walk/stroll/jog/jaunt into town, sometimes multiple times per day, and use the home treadmill, and use the track at the gym...

To wrap this to a close, here I am in some of my own words; before, after, and WAY after my first 5k experience...

Thanks for joining me in reliving my first 5k journey! (This was back on February 4th; so some details might be a bit sketchy now).

Feel free to leave a little "Love" if you enjoyed what you've read.

Here's a little more light reading from me as well if you so choose:

https://vocal.media/authors/kent-brindley

Thanks again!