I'm not athletic.
On a scale of 1-10, my natural athletic ability is probably a 3. That sounds dramatic, but ask anyone who's known me since I was a kid. Off-season was my season.
But I wanted a challenge, so I signed up for a 10k run. I knew I could do it, but it'd take work.
I'd run a 5k maybe twice in my life, each time huffing and puffing until the end. And that was years ago.
So instead of training like a normal person, I decided that my March project was to run 100k during the month to prepare for the race in April.
It sounded crazy, but I wanted a big stretch goal. I wasn't working, so I felt I didn't have an excuse. I planned to run 25k a week, running 3-4x a week.
Week 1: Baby Steps
I ran 8k and felt okay, but very exhausted.
Then I ran 8k again. My knees hurt.
Then I ran 10k for the first time, it was slow and a slog but I managed. It felt like it was going on forever, and it took me 1 hour and 20 minutes to finish. I was exhausted, but proud of myself.
After week 1, I felt like the 100k was definitely achievable.
First 10k ever in week 1 and the slut pop songs that get me through.
Week 2: Feelin' It
I felt pretty good and decided to front-load the week and run 10k earlier in the week. I ran faster and felt better than I did the last time.
At night I didn’t feel exhausted like I had the other times. I was shocked at how quickly my body was getting used to all of the running.
Another 10k and faster! I was blown away that I'd run over 50k already.
Week 3: Over It
I started hating being bound to running every other day. I wanted to do other workouts but was too tired on the off days. I felt like I needed to rest or I'd be too sore to finish the longer runs.
Even though I was improving, I was getting tired of having to run so often.
Week 4: Crawling Towards the Finish Line
At this point, I was just excited to be done with the 100k.
The last run was brutal. I didn't eat anything beforehand and I felt slow and sluggish while trying to weave through throngs of tourists at Belvedere. My knees started to hurt, but I finally finished.
I can't believe I ran 100k. I was so happy that I didn't have to run again in 2 days.
The last run was so painful, but I was SO happy to be done.
🏃♀️➡️ The 10k Run
After the 100km challenge in March, I only ran once in April before the 10k race. I just wanted to finish the race and since I knew I could do it, it took a lot of the pressure off.
Nonetheless, I was still nervous the night before the race and didn't sleep well. During the race, I ran faster than expected, probably due to all the excitement and Kim Petras tunes in my playlist.
I finished in 1:07, which was the fastest I'd run a 10k. I was pretty happy with my time.
Super happy with my 10k race results and even happier about the post-run feast.
What I learned Running 100k in a Month
- 💔 I Don't Love Running - I didn't fall in love with running. I didn't get runner's high or feel amazing while running. Even though it got easier, I still would pick a nap over running any day to destress.
It's not my thing and I'm okay with that. It made me appreciate running a lot more though, and I have much more respect for long-distance runners. - 🤯 Training Shouldn't Be Hard - The best advice I heard was that most of your training should be at zone 2, at a pace you can breathe out of your nose and still hold a conversation.
This completely changed my view of running. Before, I was always running too fast and was out of breath after 10 minutes. Making sure I could still talk while running made me slow down and allowed me to run longer.
"Go slow to go fast." Sounds like a cheesy LinkedIn inspo quote, but it's true in this case. - 💪 Your Body Adapts Quickly - The first time I ran 6k in February, I was completely exhausted for the rest of the day. Then I ran 8k, then 10k. I was shocked at how quickly I could increase the distances at the same pace.
Tracking your progress is the best way to see how quickly you improve. When I felt that I was plateauing, the data showed otherwise. I highly recommend tracking every run. Posting publicly and sharing my weekly updates with friends also helped keep me accountable.
Books
I read some books to help inspire me along the way. Well, actually I listened to them as audiobooks while I ran.
- Born to Run - A real story about the author's quest to find a tribe of the world’s greatest distance runners, the Tarahumara. It was entertaining and reinforced the idea that running is natural for humans and that it should be fun and easy.
- Never Finished - David Goggins is a polarizing person, but I loved his first book Can't Hurt Me and decided to listen to Never Finished while running. He can be intense, but I like the overall message of accountability and constantly challenging yourself. Definitely not a book for everyone.
Tracking Apps
- Nike Run Club (NRC) - I downloaded this for the guided runs, but actually found them annoying. I started tracking on NRC first though, but I wish I just stuck to Strava.
- Strava - I connected NRC to Strava, which only imports data from NRC to Strava and not vice versa. I feel like Strava has a bigger community and is better because it also incorporates other sports if you're into that. Also, more of my friends are on Strava, even though I decided to keep all of my runs private because I was shy. 😄
What's Next?
Many friends asked if I would run a half marathon next or if that was the end of my running career.
The answer is somewhere in between. I don't want to focus primarily on running and don't have plans to run a longer race, but I like the idea of tracking my improvement and would be down to do another 10k.
I never thought a running challenge could change my life, but it did. I don't hate running anymore. For me, that's huge.
Will I ever learn to love running?
Maybe it takes another 100k.
