The first 5km.

I ran five kilometres today.

My trusty Asics Gel Kayano. I heart them.

Well actually, I jogged five kilometres, kind of shuffled really. But it was still 5km, with no walking and no stops.

Whether or not you're impressed by this piece of information will likely depend on how much of a runner you are yourself. I know for some of you out there 5km is a recovery run. For others 5km might seem like an insurmountable goal.

I remember when I first took up running/jogging/shuffling. My awesome housemate/running buddy and I used to go on our evening walks and when we got to a secluded lane way about halfway through our run we used to challenge ourselves to run the length of it - probably about 200 metres. This was no easy feat in those early days - especially considering my running buddy used to double over in fits of giggles every time we started to jog. Those were the days.

Slowly, slowly, slowly we built up our running, setting ourselves the goal of a 4km fun run - jetty to jetty and return at a local beach. When the day finally came we got there ridiculously early - about an hour early actually. So, tired of waiting around for the race to start, and more than a little intimidated by all the real runners who were starting to turn up, we decided to run the race on our own. We finished before the actual race even started. Yay us.

With our first run under our belts there was no stopping us. We moved up to a 7km run, a 10km, a 15km, and then finally onto the big one - a half marathon. 21.1km. Ouch.

Apart from giving birth to my daughter, the half marathon was THE hardest thing I have ever done. And speaking of my daughter, I was actually 7 weeks pregnant when I ran it. That's the excuse I generally use when someone asks how long it took to run - that number was much closer to three hours than it was to two and a half. But at least we didn't finish last - there was another duo trailing somewhere behind us.

Eager to go before our half marathon. I chose the before pic as the after pic is not pretty.

Sadly, my running days came to a halt pretty quickly after the half mara. Pregnancy fatigue and 5.45am run starts don't mix well unfortunately. So I hadn't really done any running for well over a year.

Until a couple of months ago. My old running buddy sent me a message - something along the lines of... "Are you getting pregnant again soon? If not lets do another half mara." Bring it - was my response.

So it's on. January 2012. Just over four more months to get back up to speed (not that there was ever much speed in our running schedule). Despite living 2,500km apart, we're still virtual running buddies - checking each others times and distances by text message and facebook.

And luckily, I've found a new running buddy up here in sunny Yeppoon. I met her at "Mummy and Me" fitness class, and despite her protests that she wasn't a runner, I convinced her into coming on a weekly jog with me. Today was the first time she had ever run 5km. So big props to you new running buddy.

She told me today she's not even contemplating a half marathon. Wonder if I can convince her?