Running In Place

I did it - I ran a 5k! I ran with other people, in view of spectators even! I registered for this run - the Chilly Chili - about a month ago but I stayed all secret squirrel about it because it seemed like there were far too many times last year when I said I was going to run something or other and then didn’t for some reason or another. I really just wanted to do it quietly, personally - and then hoot and hollar afterwards (which is now). So it’s done — and it was great, I feel great! All of those fears and doubts I was getting all buggy about have no power today! I don’t expect that I’ll never have fears or doubts again but one less thing is an unknown to me, and one less thing has kept me static. I don’t have to be afraid of 5k’s and I don’t have to be afraid of hills either, let me tell you! (more on that later).

So here it is:

The location of this particular 5k was 50+ miles from my home, but it is in the vicinity of where I travel every day for my work, so I was familiar with the area and the village. I figured it would be a small run in a very pretty setting - plus I like chili and beer very much so the after party was quite enticing.

When I went on Friday to pick up my packet, the lady checking me in said that - being the first time for this particular race - they had only expected about 100 people to register and ended up with 450, which all were glad for as the proceeds benefited a local children’s charity. While in town I decided to drive the course, just to get a sense of things - which turned out to be difficult because part of the run went the wrong way up a One Way street. So I drove it backwards. My first impression was “damn there’s alot of hills” which is no big surprise as the village is in a valley and that part of the county is very hilly. Of course in my addled brain, there was great difficulty in transposing my backwards drive into a forward run so I was left with the impression that there were a few uphills and mostly downhills (um, more on that later). At least my foolish belief allowed me a good night’s sleep.

This morning I got up all nervousy and shit. I had a fair amount of water, a cup of coffee, whole wheat toast, and a banana with PB. The weather was just what I would choose to run in - it had been snowing all night so there was an accumulation of at least a few inches, it was still snowing big fat flakes and the temp was mild at about 28-30F. The weather was not what I would choose to drive in though and when we got out in the hills with the wind blowing across the bare fields it was kind of treacherous. It ended up taking us almost an hour and a half to get to Cazenovia. By the time we got there, I had about 20 minutes to pee and warm up. I immediately executed a porta-john faux pas when I came swinging around the corner to where they were and almost helped myself to one that appeared to be open. Someone cut me off just in time and caused me to look up and see the line of 15 or so people glaring at me. That’s what I get for looking at my feet instead of what’s in front of me. I did a quick apology to the masses and sheepishly placed myself at the end of the line where I started to jog in place as it wasn’t looking like I was going to have much time for a warm up run. When I got done there, I took a quick couple minute run up and down a nearby street and got back in time for the National Anthem. Most all the runners were lined up and I placed my self at the absolute very back of the pack - I had absolutely no idea what to expect and I sure didn’t want to get in anybody’s way. The walkers were going to line as soon as the last runners passed the start so I figured even if I was slow I wouldn’t hold them up too much.

So, the start of the run was on a hill which pretty much set the tone for the whole run. I would estimate that easily 3/4’s of the run was on an uphill incline of some degree or another. Some were mild and long, some were steep - one was mild and long then steep. The roads had a coating of slippery snow that caused my feet to slide out from underneath me too quickly during push off so even the blessed downhills were slow because there was no control. Anyway, not too far into the uphill start, some of the people in front of me started walking - now, I had resolved to stay slow - I mean I’m always slow, but I had resolved to not blow my wad, so to speak, early on - however, I did have to pass them, and then a few others too. After that we started to flatten out for a deceptively encouraging bit, then rounded a bend to a gradual incline, rounded a bend to another gradual incline, and then rounded a bend to a big-ass, long-ass hill!! I could see for a good distance up the hill - the leaders were not in sight but most of the mid-packers were - and most all of them were walking. What I wanted, what I had really resolved even prior to knowing the topography of this run, was to run it all. I had worked to make peace with myself that I was going to be slow but that what I wanted to do was to run all the way. So that’s what I managed to do. It was hard. At one point, as I was working my way up a hill, all by myself it seemed, I fixed on an older man who was running along - one of the few people running at that moment, shuffling, working hard like me. I passed more and more walking people to get up behind him and we both reached the crest at the same time. I turned a little to look back and could not help but state the obvious - “that was a big hill!” He just smiled and said “one step at a time.”

Anyway, I won’t go on and on about the hills any more, I’ll only say that I think I ran up a damn lot of them today and I feel all Wonder Woman-like because of it. The last K or so was downhill and of course I was all YEAH!! Then, would you believe it, the very very last part - the part where you would be plotting and executing your finishing kick and rocking through the finish with all the downhill momentum you’d accumulated - became an uphill. Well, why the hell not? From dust you came and to dust you shall return. As I came to the finish, there was my dear husband, who drove me through the bad weather, stood around for 40 minutes in the snow waiting for me, took my picture, cheered for me, congratulated me, told me he was proud me, made me feel proud me, bought me hot coffee, bought me cold beer, drove me home, bragged about me to his brother, and downloaded all my pictures for me.

Here’s something funny - for someone as obsessed, in a non-positive way, with time as I am - I ended the race and went home having absolutely no idea what my time was. I brought Garmin but I was not able to figure out where the actual start line was so I didn’t start it, and I never even thought to glance at my watch at either the beginning or the end. My only focus was to run the hills and I ended up not caring how long it took, just that I did it. There were no chips, just a perforated tag that got ripped off my number when I crossed - later today I got an e-mail informing me that my official time was 38:19 and that I finished 39 of 51 in the female 30-39 catagory. They said 355 runners finished but I don’t know my overall placing. That’s ok. I feel so great and so glad about what I did today!

Before I show my silly pictures which will only serve to embarrass me I have to give my thanks to Dawn (Pink Lady), Karen, and Mia for their great race reports from last weekend. Reading them really gave me the enthusiasm and encouragement to go ahead and do this run despite all my self imposed barriers.

Here’s some pics:

Before the run, all shy and shit.

The very beginning, don’t know if I’d even crossed the start yet.

Kind of a weird distortion to this picture but it’s just before crossing the finish line.

Back at the car, a little more confident :)

This is my hero! He supports me without question and never fails to tell me what’s good about me when I forget!

So that’s my story. I know I ran up a few hills and didn’t die from it after all. I know Richard and VJ and others have some big goings-on this weekend in a state much warmer than my own and my positive thoughts are with them! I know Jon has got a coupon for some free chocolate. Life is good.