I Ran a 5k
Here's everything I learned while running my first 5k.
The only reason that “euphoria” by Kendrick Lamar is going to be my most played song of the year is because I start so many of my runs to it. It’s a good pick. I can use that first minute or so to finish stretching, walk, and get ready to go, and as soon as the horns kick in, I’m ready to go. I’m off as Kendrick starts saying, “Shoo.”
Back in January, I decided that I was going to start running again. In high school, I would use running as usually my primary form of exercise. I continued following this into college, but as someone who drank excessively, I wasn’t necessarily a disciplined runner. My fiancée and I live near a track and a park, and I realized that I could really fully throw myself into doing laps, as well as rounding the park, or even stretching to the streets of Astoria.
At the top of this year, Bert Kreischer and Tom Segura set the goal to do a “5k by May” on their 2 Bears, 1 Cave podcast. I decided that that would be a good goal. In January, I was working through what I didn’t realize would be the final days of Hollywood Life before another acquisition, where I’d lose the job I had for 3 years. I spent most days waking up super early, banging out laps, before returning home to sit, drenched in sweat hammering out news stories.
Even once I was laid off in the acquisition and then subsequently brought back to freelance, I still kept the habit of running. Usually keeping my early morning schedule before creating a news list or heading out the second I finished for the day to knock out the runs.
By May, Kreischer and Segura announced that they’d hold their 5k in Los Angeles as part of the Netflix is a Joke fest, but there was also a virtual option, which I did take up. Essentially, I bought a t-shirt and a medal, but one day in May, I did decide to go out and see if I could hit my goal of running a 5k in 30 minutes or less. On May 18, I managed to clock in a 29:08 5k.
Still, after all of this time, I hadn’t run a race. Anytime there was something I could make, usually there was a conflict or a punk show the night before. I don’t think getting knocked around in a moshpit is the best pre-race strategy, but perhaps, I’m just not strong enough to give it a shot. On Sunday, October 20, I finally ran in a real 5k with LaGuardia Community College. I’m so happy that I did.
When I started getting ready for this back in January, I consulted my longtime friend Logan. He is a personal trainer, but he also ran track and cross country in high school. In our adult lives, he also took on the coaching position for our high school. He really helped me figure out how to do this. He was both a supportive friend, cheering me on when I’d tell him my accomplishments, but he also gave me the strategies to strengthen myself.
Some of my stretches that I do to this day are just things I copied from running with Logan in high school. He also helped me create a note in my phone to track my progress, including sections where I wrote how I felt throughout the run. Sometimes, it became more diary than simple run recap, where I talked about the emotional weight of getting laid off, feeling sorry for myself, and other things. Whenever I hit a new personal best, I’d also include a screenshot of my Apple Music history to mark what songs I’d listened to while I’d hit that achievement. Many of those runs started with “euphoria.”
Around the time that I started running, I also began constructing a running playlist. My criteria was that the song couldn’t flounder for long. Even though “euphoria” has an extended intro, it’s not included on the proper playlist, because of that. Most often, I’d hit shuffle on the “5k by May” playlist, and then queue up Kendrick, hit next, and then get started, as if I was sacrificing the first track on shuffle. Today, the playlist is over 6 hours long with 129 songs.
Lining up with my tastes, most of the songs on the playlist are pop-punk, emo, punk, and adjacent genres. Still, I feel like I learned a lot about the music that you exercise to while getting to this point. Despite Logan’s advice to give podcasts a try while running, I’ve found that I can really only push myself if I’m listening to higher energy music that has a tempo that I feel I can run to. I also realized that pop and rap were the best genres to run to, despite not being in the majority of the playlist. Drums are really the most important instrument when finding the rhythm for a run, and having the consistency of a Run The Jewels song or Carly Rae Jepsen track helps to stay on pace. Ironically, a lot of hardcore songs aren’t necessarily ideal for running. The breakdowns slow down too much, and while it may be good for a steep hill, it’s not great when going for a faster time.
(Courtesy of Elitefeats)
On Friday, I ran to make sure I could do a 5k total. It had been a while since I ran one straight through, and I managed to knock it out in 32:05. I’ve tried to be strategic with the playlists, adding a few fast-paced songs that are 2 minutes or less to sprint to throughout it, but they don’t come up nearly as much as you’d think they would. During my warmup run, “Derailed” by Joyce Manor didn’t play until the end. During my run on Sunday, “Dynamite Shovel” by The Wonder Years was my penultimate song.
Throughout the whole process, I feel like I’ve learned a lot. There’s a corny side of my brain that’s telling me that everything I learned can be applicable to other parts of life, but some of it is just practical for running around Astoria:
· Even if it seems counterintuitive to where you’re going, cross the street so you don’t have to stop the run.
· Listen to your body, you don’t always need to bang out a best time.
· The best runs happen when you walk about 2 miles before you start running.
· Look both ways before you run across the street.
· If you don’t get a run in, try to not be so irritable.
Come race day, I woke up early and walked a lap around the park, while listening to The Wonder Years and Kneecap. I ate a protein bar. Logan had advised that I don’t run the day before, but he offered that a light jog was acceptable. I did a mile and a half on Saturday at an 11 minute pace. For some reason, my ankles started bothering me later that day. He also suggested that I make sure I get a full night’s sleep before, but I also needed to stay up to watch the Yankees win the ALCS. As soon as the last out was caught, I took an Advil for my ankle and went to bed.
As I lined up to race, I hit play on “euphoria” (the burned song was “I Don’t Love You Anymore” by Real Friends). The course wasn’t familiar to me, but I found that running in a group of people helped me keep going. I didn’t wanna be a guy that stops. I’m already a bigger guy, and even though I’ve lost weight, I don’t have a skinny frame. I want to show that I can run the whole time. After “euphoria,” it was mostly pop-punk for the rest of the run. The magic of shuffle. Ironically, the only non-pop-punk song that came up after, I hit next before the final minute could play. Here was the playlist:
Kendrick Lamar – euphoria
With The Punches – Keep It Going
Green Day – St. Jimmy
Koyo – Moriches
Heart Attack Man – Crisis Actor
Eminem – Won’t Back Down (feat. P!nk)
Save Face – Sharpen Your Teeth
With The Punches – Dead Weight
The Wonder Years – Dynamite Shovel
The Wonder Years – We Could Die Like This
As “Dynamite Shovel” hit, the final uphill stretch of the run was starting. Even though I didn’t break into a sprint, I did pick up my pace a little. I was thinking that maybe I’d walk a little after that song, but as “We Could Die Like This” started, I realized that I was nearly at the end. Feeling my watch buzz for completing mile 3 was the strongest motivation that I could find.
Crossing the finish line, you can see I’m locked on the clock to see what my time was. The time was slightly slower than what Elitefeats sent me and about 20 seconds slower than what my Apple Watch said. Minutes after finishing, my official time was 28:42.04. My time on my watch was 28:32. I’m going to follow the latter, because I feel like I should aim to beat the faster time.
Afterward, I felt proud. I texted my fiancée, family, and friends. I also texted Logan. As he’s done anytime I’ve sent him updates, he asked how I felt, and I said that I felt great. I talked about how I’d persevered, and I felt accomplished. “Without sounding cheesy, that’s a lesson I learned from my running career,” he wrote to me. “If you hold onto it, it applies to everything in life.”
As I get ready to move to the next run (I want to do a 10k next), I’m going to leave with Logan’s message. He only told me after I finished the race, but it’s been carrying me through the past 10 months, which have been trying. Running has carried me through it and it’s been one time that I find peace through it all. “Sometimes we have to know when to fold ‘em, but we can do a lot more than iit feels like we can in the moment if we just keep going.”
(Courtesy of Elitefeats)