12 5k's of December

So ... I mentioned on Bobcat that I've been following some running plans by Runna. 

I'm currently in week 4 of 9 of their "5k Improvement Plan". I do a couple of runs a week that are designed to improve my 5k time. 

At some point, I noticed the 12 Days of 5ks on Facebook virtual challenge advertised in my Facebook feed.

Taking a look at my Runna plan, I was already going to do 8 runs of 5k or more in December, and I thought to myself, "How hard can it be to run 4 more 5k's in a month?"

Well, I decided to go ahead and sign up.

I'm not pushing the fundraising like I did for the Great Cycle Challenge, so currently I'm the only one who donated to my challenge. If you'd like to help out, it is a Facebook Fundraiser at:

I’m Doing 12 Days of 5ks for the American Cancer

So far, I've done a run on Monday December 1st: 1st 5k of December and another on Wednesday the 3rd: 2nd 5k of December. I have a Runna run scheduled for tomorrow as well.

So, I'm well on my way. Stay tuned here and maybe I'll continue to share how I'm doing ... or bookmark my I’m Doing 12 Days of 5ks for the American Cancer page, where I will certainly be posting updates.

 

Currently, my Garmin Connect predicts that I can do a 5k race in 28:05 (9:02 per mile)
Strava also has a similar prediction, saying to can do a 5k race in 29:34 (9:31 per mile)
And ... the Runna plan says my "Estimated Race Time" at the end to be 27:20 - 29:00 (8:48 - 9:20 per mile)

I'm actually not confident that I could run a 5k that fast. Almost certainly not the 28:05. Not right now.

My current running PR's are:

• 400 meters: 02:05 (8:25 per mile) ... 10/24/2025
• half mile: 04:39 (9:18 per mile) ... 08/08/2025
• 1 km: 05:48 (9:20 per mile) ... 07/04/2025
• 1 mile: 09:41 (9:41 per mile) ... 07/04/2025
• 2 mile: 19:42 (9:51 per mile) ... 07/04/2025
• 5 km: 30:55 (9:57 per mile) ... 11/10/2025

Generally I am not pushing real hard on my training runs. The Runna app sets reasonable target paces that are not overly aggressive. I actually usually find myself having to slow down to get into my target zones. So If I push myself, I probably can be a little faster than I've been, but I'm not feeling like I have a lot more speed in me over a 5k run.

But, I guess we'll see how I do. The last run on my current Runna plan is a 5km "race" on 01/06/2025. I'd like to accomplish a sub-30 minute time. Seems like a reasonable goal. We'll see.

As always ...keep an eye on the regular SheppyBrew Channels to see what is happening with beer, barbeque, biking and other things in my life: SheppyBrew's Facebook Page; Sheppy's Twitter Feed; SheppyBrew's Instagram Page; and SheppyBrew's Website.