Why I started running… And how did it go?

4 weeks ago, my mom sent me an invitation for our yearly colour run at our local church. Every year I miss out on this run due to various reasons but this year, I decided to put my mind to it and actually do it.

But I can’t run 5km because I am unfit and slow and I don’t want to walk it. It is a fun run so walking is natural in many cases. I searched for a training plan anyway, and a place to train and then decided to start. Every morning, I would drop my son off at school, head to the sports centre and start my training. Walk and run, walk and run, until I was able to run for longer intervals. I felt amazing and great. And I noticed the progress.

I could run further and longer without walking and getting out of breathe. I recovered faster and the stiff and sore legs were something of the past. I loved the place because it was outside and a different scenery. More relaxed and stress free.  I ran longer distances in shorter times.

Starting with 1.5km in 35 minutes and improved to 3km’s in 30minutes. The proof was in the pudding. I was positive, happy and motived. Even though some days we had rain and lots of clouds, I didn’t stop and pushed myself to get out there every chance I got. Then I ran 4.1km as my program suggested and started tapering down on the training during the last week, to rest the legs for the colour run.

On my 4km run, the terrain was soaked. Heavy rain the previous day and throughout the night. I ended up with wet shoes, socks and feet in my last kilometre, I sloshed through with my wet feet. I wasn’t happy about it. My shoes were wet and also covered in mud and I had to wash them when I got home.

This lead to another problem, we had more rain and less sun for shoes to dry. I left them in an open space to try and dry them but they ended up smelling mouldy and remained wet. I had to wash them again. When the sun came out, they went into the sun, if it started raining, I raced to bring them back inside. Eventually they dried out nicely and with no smells lingering.

During this month, I started following some people on Instagram sharing their experiences and tips and tricks. Some very useful like breathing techniques and warm up and cool down. I tried a few of these and they were great. It helped with recovery and motivation and when I followed some advice my hips and knees didn’t hurt as I expected them too.

Some people mentioned listening to music, others said to run without. Since I run alone, I chose music and made a playlist of upbeat songs to keep me going. I have changed a few song during the month because some of them drove me crazy when they started playing and skipping them while running is not really an option as I have to stop and take my phone out of my small pouch strapped to my waist. Little bit of a mission.  I don’t have all of the fancy-schmancy running gear, I started with what I have (not bad since I can use some of my cycling gear too).

Then the day came closer to the colour run. I charged my Bluetooth headphones, more comfortable without the wires. I charged my smart watch, to track my time and distance and another edit to my playlist. I packed a small bag with a towel, my rain jacket (from cycling), my running pouch, a bottle of water and made sure to have my wrist band in there too (my ticket). I put out my clothes and made sure I had comfortable socks. I was ready and motived.

I trained without drinking coffee in the morning, and I trained without relying on too much water during a run. Something I learned from cycling too. You don’t want to start caffeinated and then burn out 5 minutes into the run. On Saturday morning, I woke up, washed my face, brushed my teeth, got dressed and made coffee for my husband. I made sure I had everything and I was ready to roll…

As we left home, it started raining. I prepared myself mentally for wet feet (since I hate it so much). We arrived and it came pouring down. I took my rain jacket and put it on. Kind of feeling regret at that moment, running in the rain. But then it cleared up. Music blaring, someone shouting through a microphone, trying to get everyone amped up for the run. Colourful powder flying everywhere. Blue, pink, orange, green, yellow and purple.

And then he counted down. 5…4…3…2…1

I was stuck in the middle of a group of people, I don’t know how many but maybe 600 people joined in this run… It was a lot of people. I walked the first 100 meters until we turned a corner and the road was open, I started running, I started too fast. Mentally I told myself to slow down. While trying to avoid bumping into people as I made my way past them. Slowly but surely. There were 7 points with colour and 1 point with a foam (think foam party in a street!). Water at some points and bananas too.

It was fun and the energy from everyone could be felt all around. Young and old, from small children on bicycles to older people with walking sticks. Dogs on leashes and kids with bicycles. My music blaring in my ears but I have to admit, I never actually heard what was playing. I can’t even remember one song. I was too focussed on my breathing, my running and legs burning like crazy. I saw the little hills we had to run and my heart sank. My knees hurt and my feet cramped because of the hard tar road. It took everything to push through and use the reserves in my tank to do it.

Not because I was unfit but because I realized, I focused more on the running and getting fit than actually doing some technical stuff. It is the same in cycling, if you want to be more fit and not worry about hills, you train on hills. And I didn’t really anticipate the same for running.

And then to demotivate you more while you push through the hills, 14-year-old kids (well I am guessing their age) with long legs and even longer breaths, come running past you. Long strides, not out of breath and they can even talk to each other while running! What!?! I am barely holding on!

But I finished, I was handed a small medal and I took a bottle of water. Refreshing.  I did it. I was done. I couldn’t check my time because my watch stopped somewhere between the colour and bubbles. And I needed coffee! The atmosphere and the energy made me decide to do it again next year. But I have learned valuable lessons.

I learned:

1. I need to practise running on hard tar roads more.
2. I need to run more inclines and hills.
3. I cannot compete with 14 year old kids with long legs and the lung capacity of whales.
4. I need better shoes too.
5. You can do anything you put your mind to.

My only goal for any race is: Do not finish last. And I did not finish last. I made it.