The Spontaneous 5K

In the onthebusrunning household, I think my wife would agree that I’m usually the one driving the race calendar. So earlier in the week, my ears perked up when I heard her call out to me from the kitchen, "Want to run a 5K this Friday night?"

Like my dog, Mattie, after she hears the word "out," my head cocked to the side and I bee-lined it for her.

"A race?"
"Yeah, Crystal City is doing a Friday Night 5K race series and the next one is this Friday."

Five minutes and $40 later (for the both of us), we had entered.

It's been so long since I've laced up and run a 5K, that I forgot about the sheer delight of it. The last 5K I ran came at the end of a 17 mile training run that I timed with the start of the race so I could ensure that I really made it a "fast finish" long run.

Sure, a 5K can hurt like hell, but what race can't? The pain, however, is so short-lived compared to the multiple hours of toil that go into, say, anything from a ten miler to 26.2.

The thought of a race being over in 3.1 miles sounds blissful. Plus, you can hop into a 5K and still want (and be able to) go running the next day without being any worse for wear, unlike the weeks of marathon recovery before you finally feel like your old self again.

Even better, we're using the race as a rendez-vous point. Several of us will converge on Crystal City (subbing Breakfast Club for Supper Club), do the race, grab some dinner, then my friend will drive home with us and spend the night before we hit the road for Boston tomorrow morning.

Before we pulled the trigger on the registration, I gave a quick glance over to the fridge at my training calendar and noticed the word "OFF" as my Friday workout. And the 5K comes on the heels of a 3x2mi interval session last night.

Eh, what the hell...it's only 3.1 miles. Here's to being spontaneous.