Throughout my whole life I have never enjoyed sports or any physical activity besides cycling and walking. So, for a change, I decided to try the program in the book Galloway’s 5K and 10K Running written by Jeff Galloway and hopefully expand upon my physical strength and endurance. The book does not emphasize the proper form for running or how to achieve a fast time, but instead focuses simply on the ability to run and enjoy a 5 or 10K.

Over the never several weeks, I will attempt to follow the daily plan in the book to efficiently finish a 5K. A technique suggested by the book is a pattern called run-walk-run where you take short walking breaks between running to avoid fatigue which is used in the program guidelines. Keeping yourself within your current running ability limits is another priority of the book. Advice such as “Ease into the training needed for your goal. Don’t continue to run when you feel pain” (Galloway 50) gives the reader the constant reminder that safety comes first.

One challenge I’ve found to completing the entire program perfectly is time-consuming homework which has already left no time to spend half an hour running or walking on Wednesday, and may continue to prevent following the plan on certain days in the future. Although the book claims, “After all, shoes are the only real equipment needed” (Galloway 20) I am bending this recommendation by wearing my most comfortable regular shoes, not real running/tennis shoes. 

I’ve done three days of the program so far and found that maybe I should have read the directions more carefully. The first day, I needed to run 30 minutes, running for 15 seconds, then walking 45 seconds but I accidently ran 4 minutes, then walked 30 seconds for a total of 30 minutes. All in all, the first day I ran about 2.85 miles in 30 minutes, which left me very sore, and walked 30 minutes the second day according to the actual guidelines. The third day, I ran/walked 30 minutes following the guidelines this time and enjoyed it much more.

Hopefully in the future, I'll be able to improve on my running time and also be less sore the next day.