A 5K With Dogs In The Run

It is so weird that I, of all people, would post about this.  In junior high I used to lose sleep for numerous nights because I dreaded the mile run so badly.  In the 7th grade, I was so out of shape, and had such a bad attitude, that I walked almost the whole thing while the gym class waited.  I clocked in around 13 minutes.  Hey, I didn't have the best influences when I was younger, and it's all good now.

Fast forward a few years, when some friends invited me to do the Bolder Boulder.  I tried not to think about the fact that that's about six miles, something I'd never attempted to do even half of.  I ran the entire thing!!  What made the difference was the atmosphere.  People dressed funny, weird people wearing face paint cheering us on along the way, great music playing from everywhere, and just the whole "we" feeling about it - how I wasn't even slightly alone in my challenge.

Do I want to do another 10k?  I'll tell ya when it gets closer to the 1st Annual Fortitude 10k wrapping up at the new CSU stadium over Labor Day Weekend!

That run was a revelation to me, though, that I can do anything if I try, and that it helps to not worry about it, go with the current, and just have fun.  Since then, I have promoted and taken part in numerous foot races, and have continued to incorporate that into the cardio portion of my workout routine.

Admittedly, most of the time I do what's called "interval running," which is simply sprinting for a minute, then walking for a minute, and repeating that for roughly 20 minutes.  David Zinczenko, Editor-In-Chief of Men's Health Magazine, has drawn studies that show interval running is amazing for your body because it mimics natural activity (sports) more than forcing yourself to take a highway trip on your Nikes.

Yesterday, I had so much fun at the Canine Classic at Boulder Reservoir, that now I want to do another 5k very soon!  Admittedly, the fun started once I got past countless  dogs who thought it was a party and wanted to jump upward and look all around them, rather than run the same direction as us "civilized" creatures.

Because I had Alyssa, Kate, & Ashley with me, we ran maybe 1/3 of the three-ish miles, but they did that!  Their strength humbles me.

I'm seriously considering doing the New Vision 5k at Centerra this weekend, or something in the Denver area the following weekend.  Lory State Park has an exciting one coming up, but it's either 25 miles or 50.  I honestly just learned that people attempt that length.  Yeah, that's not me.