Training for a 10K with My Brother

Thanks to all those who liked and sent words of encouragement and understanding about last week’s post. I truly appreciate it.

This week has been better and busy. It’s also the week I really have to start training for a race with my brother. I mentioned this in passing a while back and promised the detail at a later date, that’s today.

The Conversation

One Sunday afternoon last December, my brother was in town and as we were watching football, I like to think our conversation went something like this:

“One day, I’d like to say I’ve done a marathon, or something big like that,” he said.

I responded, “I’ve done a half marathon and a sprint triathlon.”

“I know. I remember,” he confirmed.

“We can do this. As siblings. Let’s do a half marathon!” I exclaimed excitedly.

He looked at me with a half smirk and said, “I don’t want to train.”

My counter to that was, “You can’t do one without the other.”

But the match was struck.

For the next several days (possibly more) I was on a mission to find us a race. Overzealous as I was, I began texting him ideas and at one point suggested the Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon. He ignored me. I may have said this before; my brother is the nicest person on the planet so this behavior was out of character for him.

Then, it happened—I found the perfect race. I told him it was 20 minutes from his house in Texas. We had four months before we even had to think about training. And I would do my best to rally some of the east coast family to come cheer us on.

He responded with one word, “No.”

There was a considerable amount of back and forth. Convincing him was not easy. But I am proud to say, that I successfully bullied my older brother into doing a 10k on October 3, in Irving, Texas!

So three months ago, I had ChatGPT create a detailed workout schedule for me. One of my girlfriends gave me a free one-month subscription to Peloton. And I bought a spin bike and set it up in my living room so there would be no reason for me not to use it.

I sense you may know where this is going. In the last three months I’ve done six Peloton classes and four days of outdoor “running.” Let’s just say, training has been slow.

But now, the race is three months away. I have to get going. The only problem, it’s 472 degrees every day. I don’t belong to a gym and getting up before the sun or humidity (i.e. 5am) to get in a workout, is less than appealing.

Steps One Through Four

Not doing the race is not an option. Figuring out how to do it is. So, here are steps one through four.

Step 1: You are now my accountability partners. Thank you and you’re welcome!

Step 2: I joined the rec center 10 minutes from my house because of the aforementioned Death Valley weather zone I live in. And one of my neighbors swears by their indoor track.

Step 3: Have ChatGPT create an updated schedule (since I never used the original plan).

Step 4: Go!

I was 100% ill-prepared for my first workout yesterday. I showed up to the rec center less than an hour before they closed, had to ask the front desk where the track was, and had to carry my water bottle the entire workout. But I got it done. Day 1, in the books!

Now, I need a playlist. Please send any and all song suggestions. I have Hoka’s for my running shoes but I’m light on all other gear. If you have anything tried and true that I need before and during the race, pass it along.

And let me know if you’d like the ChatGPT prompt I used to create my schedule. I’m happy to share it.

I’ll keep you posted on my progress!