Mission Impossible: Run A 5K Faster Than 15 Minutes
My fastest mile is 5:18, set on August 12, 2021. My fastest 5K is 18:29 (5:57 per mile pace), set on September 19, 2021, at the Bridge Run in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Running a 5K faster than 6 minutes per mile yielded a new goal: run a 5K faster than 18 minutes.
More than three years later, I havenāt reached my goal.
Why havenāt I reached my goal? Two reasons:
- My running streak of running at least one mile outside for 931 consecutive days ended on February 7, 2022, due to pain in my left knee. I couldnāt jog a single step without pain. I imagined myself on crunches and then walked home. Out of precaution, I didnāt run for the next three weeks, losing my mojo.
- On June 15, 2022, I caught COVID-19 at a work conference in Orlando, FL. I recovered, visited Disney World for three days without any signs of ill health, and ran daily from July 6-11, including a 6:24 mile on July 11. In the evening, my throat was sore. This was the start of my neverending illness from hell.
Crashing down Mount Toad
When I ran a 5K in 18:29, I was at the mountainās peakāmy mountain: Mount Toad. I slid down it a little when my streak ended but started climbing back up in March, April, and May. During the first two weeks of June, I enjoyed the scenery. I felt great. Running a 17:59 5K, a new peak on Mount Toad, was in sight.
Imaginary mountains grow peaks.
On July 11āfour weeks after catching COVID-19āI plunged down the mountain like an avalanche.
After an abundance of fits and starts across the next 13 months, I didnāt run once from August 13, 2023, to November 7. Thatās 87 consecutive days. I ran 19 times in the proceeding three months. On February 10, 2024, I started a 127-day streak. My symptoms started to improve, mostly due to the cool-but-not-cold temperatures from mid-March to mid-May that made it easy to run slowly and sleep without AC.
On March 21, I ran a 6:51 mile. Although it was more challenging than my 5:18 mile in 2021, I survived and gained speed. Twenty days later, I ran a 6:34 mile. Six days later, I ran a 6:15 mile. I was gaining speed fast. I finished two races in the spring with these times:
- 23:05 (7:25 per mile pace) at the Reedy River Run 5K (with outrageous climbs) in Greenville, SC, on April 20.
- 21:39 (6:58 pace) at the Amway River Bank Run 5K in Grand Rapids, MI, on May 11.
I got a headache that lasted a few hours after each race (unlike any race I ran before catching COVID-19), but I recovered the day after. I wasnāt at full strength, but I was on the right path. I saw the horizon.
The horizon vanished in a flash.
Allergic to the cold
On May 21, during the first flight on my route from Grand Rapids, MI, to Greenville, SC, I got sick from the coldest airplane Iāve ever been on. My hoarseness has been awful ever since.
Symptomsāmostly hoarseness, lightheadedness, fatigue, and insomniaāhave persisted. Fatigue has improved over the past three weeks, but insomnia has worsened. There is one culprit: cold air amid heat and humidity. When the high temperature is constantly at or above 90 degrees, and the low is continuously at or above 70 degreesāthis is the summer in Greenville, the city I currently call homeāthe room temperature ranges from 79 to 84 degrees unless the AC is on. I canāt sleep when itās this warm, so I turn the AC on at night.
When the AC is on, my body freaks the fuck out because Iām allergic to the cold. The smaller the room, the colder the air, the closer my nose and mouth are to the cold air coming from the vent, and the longer the AC is on, the more my body freaks.
In April 2022, before I was aware of the revival of my cold allergy upon catching COVID-19, my physical health hit rock bottom. I slept in a small bedroom with the AC set to 65-68 degrees (so the air at the vent was about 50-60 degrees throughout the night), and the vent pointed directly at my chest (for several months, my chest felt like a freezer and I had intense headaches but I didnāt know why). The AC ran for most of the night. I was also drinking cold fluids all dayāhomemade cold brew coffee in the morning and homemade cold brew mint tea in the afternoonāsometimes with ice, which led to intense dizziness and me almost dialing 911 for the first time in my life.
Since late 2022, my only goal has been simple: get my health back. Recover fully. Live how I want to live without any symptoms for an entire week. In May 2024, I was so damn close. But, as has happened more than a dozen times, cold exposure got me sick. This time, it set me back on my road to recovery.
Just another hurdle to leap over.
Today is Sunday, October 6, 2024. Although this summer was hot as hellāmost days above averageāautumn is upon us in Greenville. The high temperature ranges from 71 to 75 degrees from Tuesday to Saturday. The low temperature ranges from 47 to 53 degrees from Wednesday to Monday.
Perfect.
Now Iāll be able to sleep well without the AC. Soon, Iāll be able to engage in speed runs without heart pain or headaches. My symptoms will improve and may vanish in the blink of an eye.
Iām climbing again.
Always set goals you canāt reach
Thanks to David Goggins, whoāwith his first book Canāt Hurt Meāinspired my running streak more than anyone or anything, I have a new goal: run a 5K faster than 15 minutes (4:49 pace).
This goal is inspired by this YouTube Short. The transcript (emphasis mine) is below.
This guy stopped me at a stop light. He was like, āHey, Goggins, why am I not getting better? Iām a big-time goal-setter. I run half ironmans. I run half marathons. I go for that new promotion at work. Why am I not getting better?ā I asked him a question: Do you have a fear of not reaching those goals? He said no. Well, thatās your problem: youāre setting goals you know you can reach. And when you do thatāthat fear, that insecurity, that doubtāthatās where you grow. Heās not getting that. You must always set goals that you think you cannot achieve. And in there, you get better. Stay hard!
Itās also inspired by this Instagram reel. The transcript (emphasis mine) is below.
So, for me, I donāt set any goals that I can reach. I set no goal that I believe I can hit. None. And then I end up hittinā them. Thatās why Iām so fucking crazy. Yāknow what Iām saying? Iām not crazy in a bad way. Iām crazy in a way where I know human beings are capable of so much more, but we dream small. We dream to where we know we can accomplish it.
Done. Thank you, Goggins.
I once believed I could run a 5K faster than 18 minutes. I donāt know if I can anymore. Iām getting older, not younger. Iāve run 33.94 miles the past 11 days with an average pace of 11:41 and an average heart rate of 134 bpmāthe bullseye of my zone 2 range of 129-139. Run slower but longer and more often. Mix in speed days. This is the gist of my training, which will be continuously fine-tuned.
I have a long way to go, but life is about the journey.
By setting this goal that I donāt believe I can reach, do the odds of me reaching my 3-years-ago goal of running a 5K faster than 18 minutes increase? If I reach it, does it mean I will have won many 5K races or at least placed first in my division? The winner of the 2024 Amway River Bank 5K Run finished in 14:54. Second place finished in 14:55. Third place finished in 15:04. The winner of my age group finished in 16:38.
That scares the living hell out of me.
If you want to grow, set goals you think you canāt reach. Set goals that scare the living hell out of you. Dream. Then go after them.
Will I run a 5K faster than 15 minutes? Only time knows.
The journey begins now.