An Unexpected Disappointment
For the last few weeks of my training, I noticed some sort of muscle strain in my right inner thigh. I had pushed myself through the pain in my previous runs, and between ice and ibuprofen, I was able to manage it just fine.
On the day of the 5K, however, it just quit on me. I'm not sure if it was because I didn't stretch enough beforehand, or if I was going too fast at the start, or if after all these weeks the injury finally cried "Uncle," but once I slowed down to a walk, I was in a lot of pain.
In fact, after about a mile, the pain was so bad that I was barely able to walk at all. I ended up meeting my husband and kids at the car, and we went home.
I know now that my injury just needed rest. If I had taken a week or two off training, it would probably have felt much better. But because I had so little time left in the program and was already registered for this race, I decided to push through it. Clearly that was a mistake, and I’m sure many newbie runners can sympathize.
If I had to do it over again, I would have pushed everything back a week and even found a different race to participate in.
What I Learned
At first, I felt awful about the fact that I wasn't able to finish. But I soon realized that was just how I felt, and not how my family, friends and kids felt.
Afterwards, everyone told me how proud they were of me. They reminded me that this was one day, and it was the nine weeks of work I put in beforehand that was the impressive part. They reminded me this was not a matter of will or ability, but one of injury, and the kind of thing that could happen to anybody.
They're right.
When I started this program, all I wanted to do was finish it—and I did. I wanted to be able to complete a 5K and do it while running more than walking. I did that, too. I just did it three days before the race instead of the day of.
I did the hard work and accomplished my goals when no one was watching, and that's something to be pretty darn proud of. After all, I did this program for me, so in a way it's fitting that I alone saw the results.
There might not be a finisher's medal, but there are all those runs on my treadmill when I didn't think I could keep going, and I did. There might not be a photo finish, but I have that finish on the running path near my house when I pressed stop and saw that I completed 3.3 miles in 43 minutes.
I have that. And that's what matters.
Thank you all for your support on this journey with me. If you’re ready to start your own Couch to 5K journey, download the app here.
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