Do Life 5K - from the desk of my roommate

My post today comes from the person who lives the behind-the-scenes of this blog daily - my roommate, KG. She was the driving force to me completing my first half-marathon as we signed up from our hotel in in New Orleans on New Year's Eve in 2008. And then she loyally completed all the training walks with me in addition to her own training schedule. Having completed 5 half-marathons of her own, she is definitely an inspiration for me to get out and run. She has kindly submitted to my constant request to do a guest post! And what a better subject than the Do Life Tour? Thanks KG and don't think I won't make you do it again!

Do Life: Nashville group. Via Do Life Facebook page

My roomie Emily has invited me to do a guest post on her blog even though I told her it’s a slippery slope towards me wanting to take over and post every time I do anything remotely post worthy. But as she was unable to make it to the “Do Life 5K” on Monday-I told her I would do a recap!

For those of you who are not familiar with Ben Davis and his “Do Life” movement, check out the video that started it all here. I dare you not to get a little teary by the end. Ben’s message is that if you want to run a 5K or an Ironman, or whatever your goal maybe that now is the time to start “doing life”- no matter what level you are at.

I am always a little nervous going into a situation where I don’t know anyone but our good friend Miss Lynn was nice enough to accompany me and I was glad I went. If anyone is nervous about heading out to these events- don’t be. Ben was super nice and came up and introduced himself right away.

We ended up with a group of about 30, including runners and walkers of all levels. There was even a six kid stroller- as in a stroller that holds half a dozen! I have been passed by a lot of strollers in my day in races so I was hoping to not see this thing go whizzing by me!

The Nashville location was at Edwin Warner Park and they had marked the few turns well with sidewalk chalk. It was pretty flat (in Nashville that’s hard to find and a very pleasant surprise!) and good scenery. I found out that a lot of people had come from surrounding areas, up to a couple hours away for the run so Ben has some faithful followers!

Eight people were doing their first 5K. I was telling Lynn during the run that I wished my first 5K would have been like this. We were told to “walk as slow as we want or run as fast as we want” so we ran as slow as we do. As a self-proclaimed member of the “Slow Runners Club” I am always glad to find people my pace and I fit right in here. The stroller that holds half a dozen even stayed behind me so it was a great success!

KG and Miss Lynn doing their thing. Via Do Life Facebook page.

It wasn’t even really quite a 5K in distance but the purpose of the event is much more about just getting out there and doing something positive for you than it is your finish time. It did make me reflect on when I was first getting into running and how it seemed like I would never be able to run that distance.

I think Ben’s message is a great one. There’s never going to be a better time to start than today. I love talking to people who are first getting into running because there are so many little victories in the beginning especially. Even when you have been running for a long time, there are still many days when my head tells me I can’t do it.

I can’t imagine now if I had never started though. I take it for granted most of the time and of course it always seems like I should be doing more to improve but really running has become such a positive thing in my life. I will leave those stories for the next time I hijack Emily’s blog though!

If the “Do Life Tour” is headed your way, I encourage you to go check it out. Here’s all the dates. And to Emily’s St. Louis peeps, they are headed your way July 5th…better go Do Life!

~KG