My 5K Experience!

My brother has been asking me to run a 5K (actually a half marathon, but I think he realized that wasn't going to happen) with yhim for quite some time now. I committed to running one with him this year. Well, we ran it this weekend. It was  the Friends of the Falling Water Trail 5K run. This summer I decided I needed to start training for it. Since my brother has ran everything from a 5K to a marathon, I asked him for advice on training. He gave me a great website to help build up to running a 5K. I started the training with the intention of sticking with it until the race. Guess what...I didn't. I ran for about 3 weeks and then started to skip days. I came up with many excuses, but only needed one really...I don't like to run. So the day arrived for the race and I was a little nervous. My brother committed to sticking with me to help encourage. As we took off, I started running like my hair was on fire. The experienced runner that my brother is calmly reminded me that we had 3 more miles to go so I better slow down. I struggled to heed his warning (I hate having people ahead of me). As we reached the half way point I was really starting to struggle. He suggested I grab some water. He is experienced, right? I did so and continued for the next 100 yards or so to burp and make funny noises. He even asked if I was OK. I got my wind back though and keep running. Towards the end of the race was a big hill. Not Mt. Everest, but pretty close I think. I started getting dizzy so I chose to walk the hill. At the top we started running again. We had about 3/4 of a mile to go. When we were within about 200 yards he said when I decide to pick up the pace he will go with me. That wasn't going to happen. In fact, with about 100 yards to go I started working hard to hold down the vomit (sorry for the yucky image). There was no speeding up. We finished the race! He was 33rd and I was 34th out of 99 (if my counting is right that I did from the website). We both were second in our age group. Man did it feel good. My brother stuck by my side the entire time. His experience helped me to finish the race. That is an important key to success in anything. There are people that can help you prepare for whatever you are looking to achieve and will help you along the way. Although I didn't listen to all the advice (hence the pain and suffering I dealt with along the way), I was able to finish because I had support from my mentor the whole way.

My advice to you today, seek a mentor. No matter where you are looking to achieve success, there is someone that can mentor you along the way. Just make sure they have the results you want, and make sure you listen to them (unlike me) because it will make the journey much easier.