Last Monday I enjoyed a great conversation over coffee with Christopher Patrick King. King was one of the first people I met that first week that Culver City News opened its doors to me. As I became more and more familiar with King I learned that he is a marathon runner, which I sincerely admire because the thought of running for an extended period of time at a steady pace kind of drives me crazy. However, there I was outside of Tanner’s asking King for some simple advice for a not so simple task: how do I train for a 5K?
Fortunately, King was as eager about sharing some advice based on his knowledge of the sport, as I was nervous of what was to come. Why in the world would a person who just a year before would hide at the mention of a 5K now want to run one? Simple. I needed a goal. Let’s rephrase that: I needed a short-term goal. As I mentioned before, I am committed to the task of shedding the many of the pounds that I have collected since high school graduation. While I remain eager, excited and committed to this long-term goal, I decided that a shortterm goal would make things interesting.
Given that up until the meeting with King I was walking almost four miles a day, five times a week, the idea of jogging that same distance didn’t seem too far-fetched. In two months of walking it was taking me 45-55 minutes to complete those 3.8 to 4 miles everyday. So when the idea of foot-traveling the same distance in half the time went off in my head, I had the same reaction I’ve had to many things in life: why not?
So the meeting with King went great and for the past two weeks I have been following his advice and I can feel the progress. Not just in my lung capacity but in the strength in my legs and the endurance in my body. The goal is to be ready by Thanksgiving Day to run a 5K. While to many that may not seem ambitious enough, I am fine with it. One of my favorite singer-songwriters, Jose Alfredo Jimenez, wrote “it’s not a matter of getting there first, but knowing how to get there.” Truth be told, where I stand now, I just need to finish that 5K. The goal is to finish it in 30 minutes. Again, might not sound too ambitious but I have never enjoyed running and the training so far has not been easy but, I feel better. I feel stronger and I will get faster. So when I wake up Thanksgiving morning, drag myself out of bed and put my shoes on, I will be one step closer to accomplishing a short-term goal, leading toward the longterm objective