If you’ve never done one…think about it ; )
5K’s (3.1 miles races) locally are a dime a dozen. Every weekend, there’s probably 5-10 5K’s going on somewhere in the area. They are often done to support a worthy cause, so you know when you do one, you are supporting something that contributes to the community.
So, what makes them so good for those who are pursuing better health, fitness, or personal improvement?
- They help provide you with a goal and something to look forward to and train for. Of course, it is valuable in and of itself to train yourself physically and make better nutrition choices day-to-day, but sometimes people can start to feel stagnant. Having a goal, or a mission, helps add some purpose and meaning to your sessions because you are working towards something. Perhaps instead of finding reasons to want to skip a session, one might focus on prioritizing their sessions better because they have a desire to do well on race day. Or, perhaps one starts to make some better food choices to support their training because they notice that they feel better when they do.
- It provides a sense of accomplishment. For many of my clients who have done a 5K, it was often their first time and it was something they had never done before. For some others, it was not their first, but they got to see how their training had helped them become faster. In some others, maybe it wasn’t their first, and maybe not their fastest, but the distance had become easier and they got to the end, not feeling completely spent like they had previously. Regardless of the outcome, people walk away with a sense of pride and with their heads held high over having finished.
- Opportunity to overcome adversity. Just because it’s “only 3.1 miles” to some or they are such a common race distance, they can be something way more to so many people. Maybe it’s walking for 3.1 miles straight and they started with being able to barely walk a mile without stopping. In other cases, it was about prioritizing their health and self when so much in our society encourages us to give, give, give and sacrifice our own personal goals at the expense of being everything to everyone else. For many of my clients, they are busy parents or busy professionals, but they have carved out precious time for themselves to do something that is meaningful to them. Other adversity might mean the weather conditions faced that day, yet you persisted and finished anyways. It helps provide you with the strength and experience to face other non-fitness challenges in your daily life outside the gym.
- No matter how many you do, there is always something to improve upon. If you walked your first one, maybe it’s about walking faster on the next one or incorporating some light jogging the next time. If you have done a combination of walking and jogging in previous ones, maybe it becomes a goal of running one straight through. Maybe it becomes a goal of improving your time from the previous one. For some, it could be a journey of learning how to do them for fun and not being tied to a particular performance goal and just being out there doing it because they can.
- Sense of community with others and the formation of new relationships. Once you’ve experienced some of the trials and tribulations of running races, it’s fun to joke and commiserate with other runners regarding some of those same challenges. In the moment, you feel like it is only you that experiences some things, only to find, so has everyone else! It provides a sense of connection around a common experience. In addition, it is not uncommon to see some of the same people regularly showing up at 5Ks and over time, you form friendships with some of those same people.
In summary, there are by far more positives than there are negatives. I’m not sure that I could really even identify a negative other than if you do one, you’re likely to want to do another…and another…and another ; )
I will also end with…it is entirely OK to never want to do one. We all have different interests and it’s entirely OK to not ever want to do one. Similarly, I might never be interested in some various areas of fitness either, and that’s OK!
The only thing I cannot accept is someone not doing one out of the belief that they cannot do it, because they absolutely can. I was once that first timer and many of my clients were once those first timers…and now they have gone on to do multiple.
Your friend in wellness and fitness,
Coach Candice
Photo up above: Achieve Wellness & Fitness clients (and a friend of the gym!) who came together to do the Warrior Trail 5K on Saturday, April 19th.
Next up, a few of us will be at the Nomad 5K on Saturday, May 3rd and then Bernie’s Run on July 4th.
Want to train for your first 5K or to improve upon your current 5K performance? We’d love to help!
Book your FREE consultation, our No Sweat Intro, today!