How long did it take for you to enter your first race? (Read 822 times)

I signed up for a 5K just a couple weeks after I started running.  My friends wanted to run one and invited me along.  I was able to run three miles pretty much right out of the gate, so it didn't take much convincing.  Running them quickly was a whole 'nother beast. 

I am another one of the race before you train folks.

I think I ran 4 5K's over about a 20 year time frame without ever really training for any of them.  I might have run a mile or two before them, but they were for sure equal to any training distance that I had run up until the race day.  I walked at some point in most of them to catch my breath and then soldiered on.  Needless to say, I didn't enjoy running or racing at the time, I would just enter one every few years to run with my wife after I forgot how bad it sucked last time.  Shockingly, somewhere in there I ran a 24 something 5K and that was even with taking a few walk breaks during it.  I think being 28 at the time and in relatively good shape from other recreational pursuits helped quite a bit.  I'm also still not sure that course wasn't short, I remember having a goal time of 27 minutes or something like that so I was shocked when I ran a 24 something.  At the time I didn't care enough to even remember what my actual time was and I've since looked for the results and couldn't find them. 

When I actually started "training" for real, it was not to run in a race, but to get in shape for elk hunting.  I had crossed the magical threshold of 40 years of life and needed to do something to get me moving and not being a fat slob.  Running was the easiest thing although I still didn't enjoy it.  After working out for about 6 months and getting up to a long run of over 8 miles at a 10:00 pace, my wife convinced me that we should sign up for a race together.  That was almost exactly a year ago now.  In less than 2 weeks and I will be running that same race again this year and have run almost a dozen races since then.  Now I'm training to do well in races more than to just be in decent shape for hunting.  Shockingly the races don't suck near as bad when you actually train for them and are almost competitive in your age group.  I think I actually almost enjoy running now.

Last night I did a 6 mile Tempo run at an average pace of 8:29 on the course that the 4 mile race will be on next Saturday (It's a fairly tough 2 mile loop cross country course).  Last year I ran the 4 mile race at a 9:09 pace and this year I'm going to target a 7:30 pace as my A goal.  Last year I finished the year with 265 miles of running and was just amazed at how many miles I got in.  This year I will end up with over 1,000 more miles than I ran last year.

I started running in April, and signed up for my first 5k as soon as I was running 3 miles on a regular basis, which was around May, and the race was the first week of June.  By the time my 5k rolled around, I was up to 5 miles, so I signed up for an 8k the following week.  I have a weird thing about wanting to know I can run the distance before entering a race.  Before I did my first half, I had run 13 miles twice.  I know most training programs don't have you do that, but I like it.

I'd have to figure out what my first race was and I don't think I remember that far back...

My first run was a race. I hated running but my coworkers convinced me to run the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge (about 3.5 miles), instead of walking as I had planned. I ran half the race and it didn't suck. 12 years later, I'm still running.

I've only been "running" for two months and have not even considered entering a race.  How about you?

I started running in November 2009; first race was a 5 miler in April 2010.  I swore I'd never race again.  It was 50 degrees, pouring rain and the route literally ran past our home.  All I had to do was run into the house and dry off, lay down and take a nap.  I didn't.  I finished and got first in my AG. 

I was shocked to say the least.  I was cursing the whole time though.  I didn't understand why anyone would run in those conditions. 

Now?  I get it.

Almost a year.  I didn't even occur to me that I could actually race for a long time.  Plus I took a LOT of time building up my run to 3 miles--- just about that whole year *blushes*  

I ran my first 5k race on Feb 4, 2012, and then started running for fitness on Feb 5, 2012.