The slow run

You stand ready for a quick start. 3.. 2..1.. Go! You sprint and make room through the numerous people around you. The pace gets quicker and quicker, and the surroundings move along in a blurry fast carousel. The first-kilometer flies by, and your pulse skyrockets. Your legs warm up as you reach the one and only refreshment point. You don’t need water, so you skip or take a quick sip while slowing down just a bit. Soon enough, you’re closer to the finish than the start, and a quick look at your watch says your pace slowed down but not by much. The outside looks sharper, and you can see the finish.

A 10k race, 10 kilometers is a fast race. The pros set stunning paces in this one, under 3 minutes per kilometer, which is like a continuous max sprint, just that they keep it up to the finish. For beginners, it can be a challenge to get to the finish line, but it’s more of a mental barrier. Physically, if you train every week and increase your distance ever so slightly but constantly, you’ll have it in your pocket.

I only raced one 10k, and it was fun. It’s a great race to challenge yourself on time, to grow faster. But it’s also the best distance, to begin with, for people that just started running. Signing up for a 10k while feeling like a lot is the base building block that you can see happening but still fear not being able to pull it off. But again, consistent training works wonders, and you’ll build the confidence to want more.

From a 10k, you can dare to run a half-marathon and, from there, a marathon. It’s the appetizer of the running buffet. Organizers usually schedule 10k runs on the same day as the longer races, so you get a full taste of the atmosphere, emotion, and joy. Also, the 10k is probably the most popular competition as it attracts the most people.

Doing a 10k also opens up the option of doing a relay race with friends during a marathon. Usually, there’s the option to run a 10.5 x 4 with 4 people each running 10.5 km to complete the 42 km course. This is a lot of fun and makes running a social experience which usually helps motivate people. The accountability and human factor motivate us more than we sometimes can do on our own.

My favorite training run is doing a 10k, but for actual races, I do prefer longer distances because it gives me more time to enjoy the experience and feel it to its fullest.

Running begins with a 10k. Let’s start!