It's only Wednesday and it's already been a week full of running-related events!
On Monday night I did the "8" mile loop with the running club (we cut off a bit so it's really more like 7.8). The run was fine (and even a tiny bit faster than last week) but my shin was a little achy afterward. Today the PT told me I should definitely ice it after runs when it feels achy so I'll have to start doing that.
Monday Night OPRC 8 Mile Route by snmnstrz21 at Garmin Connect - Details
After Monday night's run a group of us went out to dinner. Of course, we talked about running but we also talk about other things. It's always a good time and I got to gorge myself on sweet potato fries. Win win.
On Tuesday night I coordinated a booth for my running club at a local health fair. The Parent-Teacher Organization for one of the local elementary schools put together an event they called "Wellapalooza" and invited health, nutrition, fitness, and environmental organizations in the area to promote their wares. I believe the idea was that it would expose people to the different resources available to them if they wanted to make changes to their lifestyle.
We brought fliers for our 5K race, our youth mile race, our 5K fitness walk as well as a brochure I made about the club itself. I also printed out copies of the Couch to 5K program which caused some controversy among my other booth-manners. Did I mention I was the youngest person at the booth by at least 35 years?
I figured that since this was a fair designed to encourage people to exercise or eat healthily or just start paying attention to their carbon footprint a handout on learning to run would be a great thing to have. Apparently the old school of thought on running is just to get out there and do it. Run til you can't run anymore, then walk, then run again until you hit 30 minutes. I'm sure that works for people who aren't particular fans of structure or who have a certain level of self confidence. For other people, I think the Couch to 5K plan has been instrumental when beginning running.
I know when I started I couldn't go for more than 15-20 minutes on the treadmill. I'd run for as long as I could and then I'd stop and feel defeated. Outside I couldn't even go that far. It wasn't until I joined the Beginning Women's Running Group and learned about building up using a method similar to Couch to 5K that I made any progress.
Unfortunately not many people were interested in our booth on Tuesday night. The set up for the fair was odd so not many people made it where we were located. And those that did stared as us warily as they walked by. Some laughed and said "I don't run!" Most people were not interested in hearing more about our fitness walk (I could practically see them thinking 'why should I pay money to walk around the neighborhood?') and even the kids seemed skeptical that they could run a mile. Which means we didn't give away much information. Still, I'm hopeful that perhaps just seeing us in our red shirts may have planted a seed in someone's mind. And someday one of those people will decide to try that Couch to 5K plan. And someday that person will find themselves running almost 8 miles as a regular run.
You know, like me.
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