Almost there

[damienair]

I started a challenge at the start of January to do 5K every day for the month. I would run one day and walk the next. After not running during November and December I had lost my fitness and could no longer run 5K without a walking break. A month later I am getting back my fitness. Today there was a 5K run for all who were doing the January challenge. It was a lovely run. A real family event with every age, fitness level, shape and size taking part. About 1,000 participants took part, people walked and ran with 5 seperate groups.

Group 1 were all walkers and they started first. 5 mins later next to go were the runners who would aim for 40 mins and then every 5 mins the 35, 30 and 25 min groups took off. I was in the 35 minute group. I finished in 32 minutes and was thrilled. 😀 I have another 3 days and 15K to go. It was a great way to get back into the swing of running. I also got a T-Shirt and a medal. Oh yeah, almost forgot, this afternoon I went shopping for new jeans. I have been a size 34 for many many years. Today I bought a pair of 32 size waist, and I’ll still need a belt. 😁

Damien

[antonioa Graduate]

Well done

[SueKen Graduate]

Go you! Nice bling 😊

[Anthie Graduate]

Well done!! That run sounded really fun and motivating. It's great to have groups according to their times and not the distance. Keep on running!

[Hidden]

Cracking result and on the jeans side too. Well done you

[Bluebirdrunner Graduate]

Well done Damien😊... and fantastic disipline keeping this going all month running every other day...

Sounds like a great event today and a smashing time on your 5k!😊xx

[damienair Graduate in reply to Bluebirdrunner]

Thanks Jan. It was a lovely event. There was a constant stream all the way around the course. And physiologically it was great as I was passing people out all the way around. Made a nice change to having others pass me out all the way around. Lovely too that there were kids, parents, strollers, marathon runners and everything in between. Will do it again next year, definitely.

[Decker]

Nice work Damien! That is a quick time. Nice bling too!

[damienair Graduate in reply to Decker]

Cheers Decker. I was really happy with the time and so happy to have run the full 5K. I started off too fast, was sub 6 mins for the first 2 kilometers. But slowed down after that. But kept running. The coffee and cake afterwards tasted great.

[Decker in reply to damienair]

Very well done! Looks like you are back in it now. Yes food tastes best when you’ve worked hard for it 👍🏼😀

[Anniemurph Graduate]

That's grand! A lovely bit of bling, but even more satisfaction on the time - and the jeans! Very well done, and a great reward for your month of 5ks

[Theziggy Graduate]

Was this in Ireland?

Strange the way it was organised, the fastest people starting last, so they would be overtaking everybody, and the second fastest overtaking everybody ......... It is usually the reverse, fastest start first and slowest start last.

[damienair Graduate in reply to Theziggy]

Yes it was in Ireland, at Lilliput just outside Mullingar. It was actually a nice way to organize a run. Because the walkers were gone from the start line 10 mins before I got going, and because there were so many walkers at varying levels of fitness, there seemed to be a never ending stream of walkers all around the course. Some of the faster walkers were across the finish line before the fastest runners as they had a 20 minute head start for the 5K circuit. It was really different. There were no prizes for coming first. Everyone was treated equally and everyone got a T-Shirt and medal.

[Hidden]

Well done! 😀😀

[Irish-John Graduate]

Well done A Chara!

[Curlygurly2 Graduate]

Wow, what a great idea for a race, I'd love to do one like that. Well done on your January exploits too, I think that's a great idea to run one day and walk the next. And well done on the new jeans, just well done all round really xx