Well…I did it! I ran my first 5K Run yesterday. I’ve never been a runner. I forced myself to do it when I was graduating college and getting ready to join the Army National Guard. In the months up to joining, I found it extremely difficult to run, but loved the feeling afterwards. That changed though when I joined the Army.
Training was a killer for me. As someone who has never been a runner, or stick thin, I was slow. Not just normal slow, but severely slow. Like, people could speed walk beside me as I run, slow. Then it came time to take my first physical fitness test (PT test). This only confirmed that I was slower than two old people…well…you know how the saying goes. It took me 25 minutes to run 2 miles! I was embarrassed and humiliated. I was placed in group D for all the formation runs. D for Damn slow! For someone who is a perfectionist and had always pushed herself, this was extremely upsetting. There were words of encouragement, and the hope of someday moving up to a faster group. Ahhh…yes…something to strive for!
After about a month of running and pushing myself to improve, I felt I was ready to move up to Group C. This was my big chance. When it was time to get in our groups, I went over to Group C. The run began fine, but shortly into it I began to fall behind. I was told by Drill Sgt. Ellis to get to the front. Oh no! This was my worst fear. Everyone was going to pace off of me! So for the rest of the 20 minute run we ALL ran slow. I could hear the complaints behind me, from people wanting to run faster. At the end of the run, I was pulled to the side and yelled at in front of everyone for joining Group C, and banned for the rest of training to Group D.
My run never got much better for the rest of the 2 months I was there. As a matter of fact, after one long ruck march (where you carry a 30-40 lb ruck sack on your back), my run got worse. I now had a terrible pain in my right hip. I refused to get it checked out because one of the biggest fears in training is not repelling off of a 50 ft wall, but being recycled! If you were recycled for any reason, including an injury, you’d have to do this all over again with another company! I pushed through the pain, and tried my best. The final PT test was around the corner, and I was determined to pass. The day of the run, I pushed myself hard. I barely failed….by literally 3 seconds! I’m not kidding you. That PT test is still in my military file. Three lousy seconds!
I would get another chance to take it. The next day we did our last ruck march….15K! (9.35 miles) We marched out early that morning, and arrived by lunch time. We ate, set up our hooches (a tent made with a plastic poncho), dug ourselves a shallow fox hole, ate dinner, then spent half of the night pulling guard duty of one sort or another. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining about this. Under normal circumstances, I actually enjoy this kind of stuff. But this wasn’t normally circumstances. The next morning, they got us up at 5:00AM, and drove us back to the Battalion to retake the PT test! Yes, I got to retake my PT test….after taking the first one, hiking 15K with a 35 lb ruck sack the next day, then taking another PT test the following day! Not the idea situation, and obviously I didn’t pass again.
I eventually passed the test after some rest. I also later found out that the pain in my hip was a broken hip! Yep, I had stress fractures in my hip that I had been running on for a long time. Believe it or not, hip injuries are a common injury for females in Army training (if you want to learn more, there’s an article here: http://ajs.sagepub.com/content/8/4/265.abstract). Needless to say, this didn’t help with my hatred of running, which is why running this 5K was such a big deal to me.
This time, I chose to run. I decided how I would train for it, and I decided how I would test myself. For the control freak in me, this was satisfying.
Now, when I run, I run for me. I run without peer pressure…without scrutiny. And for the first time in a long time, I love to run again! I’m planning my next 5K in October. I don’t plan on stopping then either. My goal is to run a mini-marathon (13 miles) in the next year or so, then run a marathon with one of my former Drill Sgt’s (not the one in the story above) to his retirement!
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