Walking a 5K Race & Inspired

We signed up for our annual 4th of July 5K towards the last minute. Last year, we signed up but weren’t able to make it. I honestly wasn’t sure if I was ready to participate in a 5K yet, but starting the Couch to 5K inspired me to sign up. Hubby has been wanting to run one by himself but always sticks with me, so I asked my dad if he wanted to walk with me this year and he agreed.

In the past, I have always done a walk/run or just run—but I have to say that I enjoyed walking the 5K probably more than I ever enjoyed running. It’s fun to try to get a new PR, but I had more fun just walking it this year.

This was my dad’s first 5K race and my first in a long time! I was worried that I wasn’t going to be able to make it, but once we got started that worry faded away. My dad kept up the pace and I had to keep up with him! I tend to slow down as I go, so it was good that he kept up the pace. I enjoyed our conversation!

When we neared the finish line, my dad said we were going to finish arm and arm at the same time, so that’s what we did! We finished in 1 hour and 23 seconds. It didn’t matter that they had already taken down the finish line cones and that they were already announcing the winners. It wasn’t about winning.

Hubby finished in 33 minutes by doing a run/walk—I’m proud of him since he hasn’t run for a long time!

This was the first race where I truly felt that it didn’t matter how slow I was—the important thing was that I was out there and being active. The only one that I need to compete with is myself and it doesn’t matter that almost everyone else finished way before we did.

Lots of people on the race route encouraged us and told us we were doing way better than they were since they were just sitting in their lawn chairs and watching. I think it’s important for those of us who are overweight to just show up. I hope that maybe someone, who was just watching and thinking they could never do it, was inspired.

I was certainly inspired by the man who came in last (the only person who was after my dad and me). He was probably 500 lbs. and he walked by himself until the very end when I noticed a few kids went back and walked part of the way with him to help him finish.

He showed up and didn’t care what other people might think about him, or even if he did worry about it he didn’t let it stop him. I could tell that he was proud of himself for finishing. The look on his face told it all. It was so motivating to see him out there giving it his best. He proved that if you set your mind to something you can achieve anything.

Fitness is for everyone and it’s not all about competition—it’s about showing up and finishing.