Running My First 5K: Six Tips for Success

Two weeks ago, I ran my first 5K.   

When my husband and I started the Couch to 5K program, one of the first things we did was sign up for a 5K race.  We knew that making this investment would motivate us to run when we didn't feel like it and make us willing to completely rearrange our family's schedule so that we could train and become runners together.  I think it was one of the smartest things we did to ensure success, aside from purchasing good running shoes.

1.  Make it Fun!

We picked a unique and fun race to be our first.  The Firefly Run is a night race, completely with neon accessories, fun music, and funky lights in the trees.

Izzy and I, having fun before the race.

There were tons of walkers, so it was really motivating to pass people up the entire time I was running.  I felt so awesome.

We had the kids with us in jogging strollers, so while my husband had our little boys in the double jogger, I was pushing our 4 year old.  About 2 minutes after the race started, she yelled "Oh no, Mommy!  You only have ten minutes left!  You better hurry!!"  Laughing inwardly, I said "OK, I'll go as fast as I can!"  She did this during the whole race, but fortunately, she has no concept of time, so right before we crossed the finish line, she yelled "You only have 5 minutes left!"  Isabelle gave me the comic relief that I needed.

 2.  Run for a Cause

The Firefly in DFW benefits Children's Medical Center in Dallas, a hospital that is near and dear to my heart, since we lived there for 2 weeks.  The EMTs and surgeons saved our son's life when he was a newborn, and everyone on staff there was incredibly kind and professional.  They made an impossibly difficult circumstance much more bearable.  We recruited a team, had t-shirts made, and even raised a small amount of money to benefit Children's.  The cause was an important one and we made sure we completed our training program prior to this race.

Team Andrew, running for Congenital Lobar Emphysema.  Andrew, our CLE kid is the one sitting on his daddy's shoulders, perfectly healthy.  Children's Medical Center is fabulous!

3.  Set a Small Goal

My goal, my only goal, was to run the entire thing.  Anyone can walk three miles, but not everyone can run.  I'm happy to say that I met my goal. 

When we signed up, my husband and I were going to run together.  About a month before the race, it became pretty obvious that he could run significantly faster than me, and I knew it wasn't fair to make him hang back with me during the race.  He never came out and said it, but I knew he wanted to set a good time for himself, and I would only slow him down.  His goal was to break 30 minutes for his first 5K, and he also reached his goal.  He completed the race in 29 minutes and some change.

4.  Counter negative thoughts with positive

My twin sister is the real runner, and since she has run 2 marathons, the Firefly was just a fun run.  She ran next to me the entire time and was just what I needed.  She's my twin, my best friend, my wombie, so I can speak my thoughts aloud to her.

During the entire race, as negative words came out of my mouth, she countered them with positive:

1 mile into it:  "I don't think I can do this!"  Yes you can!  You've run longer than this before!

"I haven't run in a week!"  That means you've got fresh legs!

2 miles into it:  "Oh no!  We're running up a hill!"  That's nothing!  You run bigger hills in your neighborhood all the time!

"I have to walk.  I can't do this!"  Gabby, there's the parking garage!  Remember passing it up on the way in?  We don't have far to go!

"I don't have anything left!"  Yes you do.  You've got this!  

Me with my twin sister Dominique, the real runner of our family.

5.  Realize that you can run more than you've ever run before.

One of my only worries was that prior to our 5K, the longest distance I'd run completed was about 2.5 miles.  I had only run for 30 minutes straight.  How in the world was I going to run a 5K?

I can.  I did.  Evidently if you can run 30 minutes straight without walking, you can run 45 minutes straight without walking.  You can do a lot during a race that you haven't done in training.

6.  Don't Underestimate the power of endorphins to pull you through.

Just when I was feeling completely spent, we started to turn into the last leg of the race.  Standing there at the corner was a group of volunteers cheering us on, yelling for us.  Inside, I felt a complete hormonal rush and knew I could keep running.  As I saw the finish line looming, a bright neon arch, I suddenly heard my husband's voice from somewhere in the dark night, shouting "Go Gabby!!!!"

And I ran fast.  

I gave it all I had in that last stretch, passing up runner after runner with my jogging stroller.

After the race!  Tired but happy!

My Awful, Wonderful Time

I said I had no time goals, but I would've loved to have a decent time.  Instead, I finished in 45 minutes.  

45 minutes.  

To run 3.1 miles.  

That's about 15 minutes per mile.  

It's awful, a terrible time, in fact.  

And it's wonderful too.  

Before this race, I had never run 45 minutes without stopping.  Yet suddenly I did.  I know what I can do now.  In fact, I tease my husband, the same guy who finished in 29 minutes, that I did something he can't do.  I can run for a longer amount of time than he can.  Maybe he can run 45 minutes, but I don't know that, and neither does he, because he's never done it before.  But I have.  

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