I ran a 5K. Now what?

Not me. Close, but not me.I ran my first 5K last Monday. It was OK. Not a huge milestone or a great accomplishment, as some of my friends predicted. Certainly not "life-changing", as one of my marathon-addicted relatives assured me.

It was OK.

I started running in February (or maybe March?) with the "Couch to 5K" app for my phone. The description reads:

Get off the couch with the OFFICIAL Couch-to-5K® training app from Active.com! This oft-imitated program has helped thousands of new runners move from the couch to the finish line. Spend just 20 to 30 minutes, three times a week, for nine weeks, and you’ll be ready to finish your first 5K (3.1-mile) race!

I can attest that this is just how it went. When I started, the training program had me run for 1 minute, walk for 2, run for 1 minute, walk for 5, etc. The initial workouts weren't bad, even for a couch potato.

Each week's workout got progressively harder, but never ramped up quickly enough to be beyond my capabilities. It was just enough of a stretch to make it a challenge to be overcome. By the end of the nine week program, I was regularly running more than 5K, three mornings a week.

Perhaps that's why my first official 5K race was anticlimactic. I'd already run that distance several times, so there was no physical accomplishment to speak of. I had no intention of challenging anyone for primacy in the standings, so my time didn't matter much, either. It was slower than my normal training runs, but I wasn't surprised by that.

My left leg hurt the morning of the race, but since my leg had been hurting for weeks, I knew that the pain would go away once I started running. Endorphins, probably. Besides, this was my first registered 5K, and I didn't want to forgo it, or quit after only the first mile. The upshot is that I ran the race anyway, start to finish.

Did it give me a newfound sense of accomplishment and wider vistas of pleasure at having done what I'd set out to do?

No. The most lasting impact of it has been the unremitting, bone-deep pain just south of my left hip. Not a muscular pain, it feels like a hard bruise. Since there's no discoloration, I can only assume I've done something to the bone. The frisson of tough guy pleasure at the thought of having run a 5K on a fractured leg is small compensation for the constant pain.

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Landless by Tony Noland. If you like the blog, try one of the books.