hit me today at this event. The main things being: 1. I really should done a few more of these before I signed up for the "big one".
2. Running has its own culture that I am trying to figure out, but I think I like it other than the whole quest for pain part.
3. When your A.D.D. is out of control and you have lost your knee strap thingys AGAIN, headbands work pretty well and no one even notices.
4. I have SO much to be thankful for.
It was an emotional event which I didn't really stop to think about until I was there. As I walked past the "In Memory Of......." sign that people were signing, I had to stop and take a minute to be thankful that those I know who have fought breast cancer are still with us and going strong. I love you Aunt Gail and Mrs. Hermann (Deidre's mom)!!
As I walked around before the run started, my warped sense of humor started to come back and I started laughing at the idea of everyone with numbers pinned to their shirts. The organizers claim this is to keep track of times and who is running, etc. I think it's more for identifying the bodies along the road of those who overestimated their running abilities. We also all had the shoe tags, 
supposedly used for tracking your time. I think they use it to locate the women who inadvertantly made a right at the movie theatre and ran straight for my favorite corner in Mayfair - the one with Coldwater Creek, J Jill, Banana Republic, Talbots, Chicos....... I was distracted from my personal entertainment by a very nice couple who started up a conversation. He is the runner, she is a retired teacher who was there to cheer. He is a long time runner full of stories about his adventures. Nice people.
supposedly used for tracking your time. I think they use it to locate the women who inadvertantly made a right at the movie theatre and ran straight for my favorite corner in Mayfair - the one with Coldwater Creek, J Jill, Banana Republic, Talbots, Chicos....... I was distracted from my personal entertainment by a very nice couple who started up a conversation. He is the runner, she is a retired teacher who was there to cheer. He is a long time runner full of stories about his adventures. Nice people. Let's get the obvious questions out of the way first. Yes, I finished still vertical. No, I did not take any shortcuts (though it was tempting). No, I was not the last one to cross the finish line. While I did not blaze any trails, I did finish somewhere around 35 minutes, which while on the slow end for the group, was actually the fastest I've ever moved my body 3+ miles without wheels. My comfortable pace where I can breathe and move my legs is around a 13 minute mile. There's just something about large numbers of people running past you that makes 
you move a little faster! The men started 3 minutes after the women (play on running after the tatas of course). As the first group blew by me, I decided they were truly overachievers who use dinky little 5ks to make them feel fast. :) After about the first 1/2 mile, I noticed two other women who were moving at about my pace so I decided to keep an eye on them and use that as a measure of my slacking. Turns out we stuck together the whole way, back and forth passing and catching up, not wanting to be the one left behind. As we ran, the one woman had friends running also who shouted encouragement back and forth and I thought that was a great thing. The retired teacher I met before the race was waving and yelling to me around the 2 mile mark which was very kind. Near the end, one of the friends who had already finished ran back to where we were and got her going for the last 1/2 mile. While I thought that was a very nice thing to do, I also wanted to kick him in the shin for making her run faster because I was supposed to be keeping up with her! As we neared the 3 mile mark, the third woman in our little pack grabbed me by the arm and said, "Come on, we got this, run!" It was then I decided that maybe I should look into joining a running club. I need to meet people and I surely need some help with the motivation in this sport. After I crossed the finished line, the nice man I met before the run was there and told me he had to make sure he saw me cross the line. Nice, nice people. I just saw a preview clip of the evening news on tv and they 
have video from the run. Felt good. Very, very good. This picture here in the car is about when I realized it's still sunny and warm in NC and sunscreen would be smart. I was also thinking of the hours of soccer games without a nap!
you move a little faster! The men started 3 minutes after the women (play on running after the tatas of course). As the first group blew by me, I decided they were truly overachievers who use dinky little 5ks to make them feel fast. :) After about the first 1/2 mile, I noticed two other women who were moving at about my pace so I decided to keep an eye on them and use that as a measure of my slacking. Turns out we stuck together the whole way, back and forth passing and catching up, not wanting to be the one left behind. As we ran, the one woman had friends running also who shouted encouragement back and forth and I thought that was a great thing. The retired teacher I met before the race was waving and yelling to me around the 2 mile mark which was very kind. Near the end, one of the friends who had already finished ran back to where we were and got her going for the last 1/2 mile. While I thought that was a very nice thing to do, I also wanted to kick him in the shin for making her run faster because I was supposed to be keeping up with her! As we neared the 3 mile mark, the third woman in our little pack grabbed me by the arm and said, "Come on, we got this, run!" It was then I decided that maybe I should look into joining a running club. I need to meet people and I surely need some help with the motivation in this sport. After I crossed the finished line, the nice man I met before the run was there and told me he had to make sure he saw me cross the line. Nice, nice people. I just saw a preview clip of the evening news on tv and they 
have video from the run. Felt good. Very, very good. This picture here in the car is about when I realized it's still sunny and warm in NC and sunscreen would be smart. I was also thinking of the hours of soccer games without a nap!So now this leaves me worried about next Saturday. It's so much more psychological than physical for me. The first two miles are ugh, what am I doing. Then I kinda get in a groove and it's ok. I know it will be ridiculously hard and I will be in pain and I'm in WAY over my head. BUT, I also know that the crowd will help my feet move and that I am WAAAAYYY to stubborn to do anything but get through this. I'm sure it won't be pretty, especially with rain in the forecast, but by this time next week I will have finished 13 miles, taken lots of Advil, and started the after celebration with friends in downtown Baltimore. Please pray. As for now, no more running until the big one, another trip to Dick's for knee straps, and a reminder to pack sunscreen which I did NOT think of today. We get on the plane Thursday afternoon. Here we go!
0 comments:
Post a Comment