*In this blog post YMCA of Greater Toronto staff member Robyn Trew shares her experience of completing her first 10-kilometre race and overcoming the challenges posed by her mind, rather than the race itself.
I never considered myself a runner before April 13th. It didn't matter that I have been working out three times a week for the past 16 months, or that I've been waking up early every few days to fit in a quick jog before work. It didn’t matter that I had a running injury, or that I've been training to complete two 10 kilometres races this spring.
To be honest, I've never been a fan of running. I used to ask my mom to write notes to my teacher to get me out of running 800 metres in elementary school. And last June, for example, I couldn't run the full five kilometres in my first ever race. In fact, jogging nonstop for a mere 30 seconds was something I struggled with a year ago.
Despite all that, I kept pushing myself to ‘run’ – be it on the treadmill, the track or the streets. I slowly improved on my time and distance. Then came the day when I ran my first 10 kilometres, a week before the actual race.
I realized that being a runner is not about the time, the distance, or the medal waiting at the finish line. None of these things mattered to me at that moment. What mattered was the fact that I just did something I thought I could never do. I learned that the biggest challenge I had to overcome was in my mind.
Over the past 16 months I've made a lot of changes to my lifestyle. But, completing that 10.7 kilometres run showed me just how far I've come!
On April 13th, I confidently ran down Yonge Street with thousands of other people. We all had our own reasons for running that day. We were all running for a purpose – whether it was to support a friend, finish our first race or change our state of mind. We were all ‘runners,’ whether we chose to define ourselves as such or not.
Running the entire 10 kilometres in one hour and 41.5 seconds was a huge accomplishment for me. As proud as I am of my time, I’m most proud that I proved to myself that when you get over that ‘I can’t’ in your head, amazing things happen.
Maybe I’m a runner after all.
