February 10th, 2018 By AstroVan

WHAT
Come join me and your F3 brothers in encouraging each other to run their first 5K/10K or to train to PR in those distances!

WHY
Back in April of 2015, YHC weighed 300lbs, couldn’t run for more than a 1/4 mile straight and was the saddest of clowns. My M brought up the idea of doing a Couch to 5K program and I said sure. Little did I know that saying yes to that C25K program would change the direction of my life. Struggling through the early weeks of running encouraged me to eat and drink better. As the changes snowballed I added biking, calisthenics, basketball, etc. After a year I had lost over 70 pounds and more importantly gone from living a glutenous, sedentary lifestyle to living an active, purposeful life. And most importantly, modeled that behavior for my family to follow.

Why did I tell you all that? I promise it wasn’t to toot my own horn. I understand how hard it is to get moving and it is nearly impossible to do it by yourself. If you are reading this and have not or can not run the 5K distance, I encourage you to try. Why?

1. Confidence – Setting a goal and finishing it will do wonders for the way you feel about yourself
2. More productive bootcamps – if you are able to run at least 3 miles comfortably, you can focus more on exercising and less on recovering from moseying

If you can already run the 5K/10K distance, join us to encourage the newer PAX/FNG’s and to lay out and get encouragement to set new PR’s.

WHEN
The Harrisburg 5K/10K is 9 weeks from today. It is a smaller field and a fairly flat, beginner friendly race course. A standard Couch to 5K training program is 8 weeks, a 5K to 10K training program is about 6 weeks, so there is plenty of time to get ready! My recommendation … sign up today! An impending deadline will be a great motivator!

WHO
ALL F3 Nation, sad clowns, FNG’s, M’s, 2.0’s, etc.

HOW
How will the group work? 3 ways.
1. Slack Channel – I have created a closed Slack Channel for people interested in this group. This will be for posting your progress, encouraging others, accountability and setting up group runs … which leads to
2. Group Runs – doing this alone is hard. Use this group to encourage each other to get out to already existing cruises or speed workouts or create OTB runs as a group.
3. Facebook Group – The idea of this is not actually mine. I am following my M’s lead on this. She has create a private Facebook channel for encouragement, including a series of Live talks by different people who love running! This is also good way to get non-F3 people into the mix.

My fitness goal for this group is to PR my 5K. My overall goal is to encourage people to push themselves to places they may not have thought they could go! I would love for you to come join me.