Ran my first 10K + a Brief Update!

Hello!

As of my last post I mentioned getting a grip on my schedule and habits. I can gladly say I have things under control, I cook again and I clean a bit every day. And now I did something that set my training motivation.

Last Thursday I asked my friend out for a run in the park. We haven’t done so in 8 months, when I was about 10kg heavier than I am now. Our distance was between 2.5-4km on average.

I proposed let’s try for 5km because I had read about Tallinn’s marathon and the participation medal (which would potentially be my first medal ever) enticed me to consider taking part. So I was virtually unprepared. We ran and felt very surprised how easy it felt compared to our last times, and we kept going until we reached 5km, having energy to spare. Feeling surprised and confident, I signed up to the 10K race!

2 days passed and I felt on fire with excitement. 2 years ago I aimed to take part but my form did not cut it at the time. The current race was supposed to be in the evening with more than 12 000 participants (Especially since we are celebrating Estonia’s 100th anniversary). My starting number was 6577.

I woke up in the morning and found that my former classmate from middle school, and my low-key fitness motivator with her own progress, wrote to me asking if I wouldn’t mind running together and reconnecting. I was overjoyed and of course agreed!

We met up, got our numbers and put our things away, anticipating the start as it was both of ours first 10K . Agreed to start and finish together, keeping a conservative pace. The amount of people, the music and cheer at every kilometer was absolutely astonishing!

The first 5km were a breeze. The first 4 of them were packed. We kept the pace together and we told each other when we felt like we needed to slow the tempo a bit. Still despite that, we kept passing people. My lungs stung a bit but not to a point that I couldn’t brush off, the most that made me alert was the stiffness of my legs and especially my left ankle. I hoped my legs could carry me to the end.

On the 7th-8th kilometer we passed inside a building and after that came a short but steep rise which nearly tripped me up and made me wonder if I can last. We did, keeping on and then came the last kilometer and cobblestones, which again made it difficult. My friend’s lungs were burning and my legs were like pieces of wood but still, as we saw the finish line I proposed we sprint to the end. I though I am either gonna break my ankle or I am going to finish it, she was close to throwing up but we dashed by the others and I raised my hands as I crossed the finish line, hearing my last name over the speakers. Apparently the stunt earned me 15 seconds of fame haha. My friend and I finished 1 second and placement apart, she in the lead.

What I aimed for:

Around 1:30:Xsecs and among the first 5000

How I finished and my placement:

1:10:14 and 1189th place

The result had me ECSTATIC! My first ever sports’ event medal and I am so proud. My cousins have been amazing child prodigies in sports and I’ve always admired them even if I was very weak in comparison. So this event was a small dream fulfillment to me! And I can poke fun and say “See we actually are blood related!”

The teamwork was amazing and we partnered up for the next race. Honestly, without her I wouldn’t have finished so well. Another 10K for winter! And while this time I was unprepared, the result and the experience gave me newfound and deepset motivation to keep training.

So using Nike Run club, I’m building a plan!

So! That is it for today and I will go do my recovery run before the 24h mark where DOMS sets in deeply.

Have an Amazing Day and Until Next time!

-Ann