Saturday, September 24, 2011

My Running Season Is Over

At least as far as long runs are concerned.  I started running anything other than sprints on the treadmill at the gym back at the start of July because a friend of mine had done a Warrior Dash and I thought it was something that was awesome.

At the start of it all I ran just 5k a few times and didn’t really like it at all.  It was hot since it was the height of the summer and I had never endeavoured to do any sort of running before.  Now I had used the elliptical at the gym for about an hour at a time back when I started losing weight, but those experiences were over a year ago and much easier than running (though I did not find it easy at the time to be sure!).

So anyways, once I discovered I could run 5k right off the bat and a friend told me about a mud run a couple of months down the road my course was set and the training began.  Now nearly three months after the beginning I have run over 170 kilomeres!  Included in that is six runs of my “usual” 10k course.  Over the course of those six runs my average speed was 12.67km/h (7.87mph) which covers a kilometre in about 4:37 (or a mile in 7:21) which apparently is not too bad.

So why if I am doing alright with this running thing, and I actually have grown to enjoy it, especially if I can manage to leave the time factor by the wayside, which does not happen often. Why is because hockey season if starting for me next Saturday.  I’m not all that keen on playing goal Friday night, running any distance Saturday morning and then playing forward that night.  So the longer distance running for me this year is done.  I think I’ll keep on running the 5k distance mid week for a while, until it gets too cold.  I’m sure I can find a couple of routes that will keep it interesting for another month or so.

I’m really very happy with my running progress in three months and placing 10th in the mud run I took part in.  I will enjoy picking it up again in the spring in order to compete in the Warrior Dash next year.

So here’s to running, I never thought I would like you, but we’ve ended up pretty good friends.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Chris! Well, you'll get quite a super great workout with hockey. I grew up in a hockey town in Minnesota, where I could literally see Canada across the water from our land. (Baudette, Minnesota seeing Rainy River, Ontario). I've been to Canada several times. Hockey is a crazy sport. I honestly think it is MUCH more scary and crazy than NFL football. It's very fun to watch, but I bet it is even more fun to play.

    :-) Marion

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  2. Oh hockey is a fantastic workout, lots of cardio and stop and go kinds of things. It is so fun to play, I'm very excited for the upcoming season since it will be the first time I'm playing a whole year while in shape. Last year I had the weight off when the season started, but I was not the machine I am now.

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