I DID IT!
For four months I trained with the goal of being able to complete a 5k race. It wasn't easy after week four but I'm proud that I kept with it. Everything leading up to the race was monumental because I cannot think of a time that I sat down and dedicated myself from start to finish to completing a project outside of school assignments and video games. In all honesty, right now I'm just starting to realize the impact of this race. My entire life has been filled with barriers that were mostly set by myself and my perceptions of what I cannot do. I try things outside of my natural strengths and if I don't do well I chalk it up to not being something I would every be good at. This is a big contributor to my lack of physical fitness growing up. Completing a 5k race takes all of those mental blocks and throws them out of the window!
Running is difficult. It sucks. And I've come to terms with that. What I've learned is that to run successfully, I have to turn off the brain. Focusing on the here and now leads me to thoughts of stopping. It's a mental game because when I'm breathing hard and my muscles burn, my brain is busy sending all sorts of tingles to my feelings of panic. I feel like I'm going to give out at any given second and die from exhaustion. BEYOND that initial picture this piece of my brain is painting, I look at how I'm doing and I'm perfectly fine. Yes my legs are tired. Yes my breathing is harder than at a normal pace. BUT I AM DOING ALRIGHT. My legs are strong and not shaking. My breathing isn't rapid or extremely labored. Yet when I'm pushing myself my brain goes right to that area and sets up shop. Over the past sixteen weeks I've learned how to deal with these issues and this opens the door for me to push myself harder than I've ever pushed myself before.