Runner’s world recently published on of my favorite articles of the year. The extremely talent and funny Lauren Fleshman wrote, “10 Reasons the 5K is Freaking Awesome.”

Quote from Lauren in the article that pretty much sums up my racing life:

“With a growing obsession over distance races, and a focus on completion rather than competition, 5-Ks have somehow lost a lot of their badassiness. They have become little more than a gateway drug for marathons.”

Well…not exactly, I haven’t done a marathon (yet…my blood pressure just spiked thinking about it). But 5Ks were my gateway drug into much harder things…10Ks, a half marathon, several sprint triathlons, obstacle course races and my Everest, the Great Adventure Challenge. I never really though of this before reading Lauren’s article but she is right!

Now, when I sign up for 5Ks my thought process is like, “Oh, it’s just a 5k, no big deal” but 5ks are freaking HARD! While training for the Twin Lobster Half Marathon there was a 5k on the schedule than myself, Mugsy and SL ran (mostly together). I PRed which I was really excited about but I worked my butt off. I was not even close to being in 5K shape. I was in long, slow run shape. The 5k was freaking hard and certainly not just a 5k.

Iv’e said over and over again that it takes me about 3 miles to really get into a run. What does that say about me and 5ks? A LOT! This is a distance I really struggle with yet I mentally blow them off every time I sign up for one. In the article Lauren says this of the 5k distance:

“It encourages you to develop a combination of endurance, speed, and strength. You can train for it and still have a life. You can race one every weekend and still be able to walk normally. If people ran more 5-Ks, I’m positive the average life satisfaction of humans would increase dramatically.”

Ok Lauren, I think I have the endurance and strength thing down but you are right about speed…I need to develop this. I am not a fast runner, not sure I ever will be but if I don’t work on it I know I never will be. Looks like committing to a couple more 5ks a year could help. As for the the life satisfaction part, I weirdly agree as well. If more people ran 5ks life would be better. Think of how happy and excited people are when they finish a race!

The article also calls for a 5k revolution! I guess I can get on board with this and sign up for a few this summer! Gotta get back to my roots and all!