5K suprise

I used to think I was terrible at every single athletic event imaginable. I completely surprised myself though on Nov 1 2008. I cut 3 minutes off my 5K time, going from a PR of 29:31 to a 26:28. If you want to read all about this race, I have the race report located at the side bar of this blog. All I can say about the 5K was that it was SO fun and I had no idea that I would do so well.

The thing that surprised me the most about this 5K was that overall, I finished 16th out of 83 people (but this placement also includes walkers). I also finished first place in my age group (out of three people) beating two people on the cross country team!

This race happened almost two weeks ago, but I am still incredibly proud of my accomplishment. This made me realized that I actually have potential in the sport of running, and that if I work hard in this sport, I can achieve many more great things.

I decided on a goal that I am extremely willing to work hard to achieve: A sub 22 minute 5K by (hopefully) August 2009. The reason I want a sub 22 in this time period is because I think it would be so neat to make the varsity cross country team at my school. To make the varsity cross country team at my school, you need a 5K time of 21minutes or under.

I have never been good (or even average) at a single sport in my life. To make the varsity cross country team would be an amazing goal that would completely change my entire perception on who I am as an athlete- and who I am as a person.

I already love the idea that I am actually improving as a runner. This kind of improvement never happened to me in a single sport before. I know I was able to improve my bicycling over the summer by a large amount- but definitely not enough to make me middle of the pack!

So this is my new goal for the upcoming season. To work hard at my running and cut my 5K time down as much as possible. I realize I have written about other goals before in this blog (i.e. a self-supported half-marathon) but I never really had enough motivation to actually accomplish them.

For this goal, I am willing to do whatever it takes to achieve it (except steroids, lol). I will build my mileage to at least 30-40 miles a week, I will start doing speed work sometime in the near future, and I may run on my school's track team this spring. I'm not quite sure about the track team yet though. I will just have to see.

I revived this blog to keep a record of my journey to a sub 22 minute 5K. I want some way of keeping myself motivated and accountable. I am willing to do whatever it takes though. Varsity cross country sounds likes a dream now, but maybe in another year it will be a reality.