You may not need to be wise to know these things but my tips can never hurt. First things first, you can not start training for a 5K 2 weeks before the big day if you are not really a runner. Second, 3.2 miles isn’t as short as it seems, but to be positive it isn’t dreadfully long. Third, it may not be the smartest thing to plan to run a 5K the day after celebrating a friends birthday at a casino (But we’ll see).

I have been thinking of running a 5K for ages, actually a couple of years ago I was thinking of running a marathon. I had been in a a bookstore and was looking through runners magazines and saw all these fab prizes for winners of marathons and I rushed home eagerly to tell all my friends of my new plans.  Needless to say they weren’t too impressed or excited for me, this coming just a few weeks after I had been excited to climb the Himalayas and/or Mount Everest. The marathon dream came crashing to an end as soon as I saw that it consisted of some 26 odd miles. But a 5K was quite feasible for me.

So when I saw the facebook invite to the 5K I thought now is my time! The same evening the invite came out I went to the gym to start preparing for my 3.2 mile run. And then I realized that I couldn’t run 3.2 miles straight. I wasn’t too worried, I mean I had plenty of time to get to that stage. I had all of 2 weeks.  The next day I went to the gym and ran and walked the 3.2 miles in what I thought was excellent time and I rushed home to see what winning times were for 5Ks.  I thought that there must be some mistake when I saw 16 minutes and checked with a friend. He told me that 15-16 minutes was indeed the winning time for runners but not to feel too bad because that was for men, girls most probably took a few more minutes. My heart sunk, not only was my time not a champions time, it wasn’t even in the near vicinity. My heart sunk even further when I was told not to feel bad because certain “older” faculty would be there and at least I could walk to the end with them.  That was not part of my dream.

I decided to look up running plans to get in winning shape for the 5K (Yes, I still thought I could do so in 2 weeks) and my heart sunk again when the shortest program consisted of 6 weeks long. Feeling somewhat blue I took off 2 days from the gym and my “miracle program” and then decided that just participating in the event would make me feel good.  Not as good as if I knew I had a chance at winning but then maybe it’s good for me to halt my competitive spirit.

The 5K is this weekend and I just hope that I finish…not last.