Running In Place

That’s right!  After pre-registering and then pulling no-shows on three 5Ks since the start of this year, I finally got my race on - the first since communing with da boyz in July.  

As a race, the SUNY IT Scholarship Run was a nice one.  It all took place on campus roads and walkways with minimal traffic, the weather was cool (low 50s F), and there was what looked like a nice pancake breakfast afterwards (though I just grabbed a banana and hit the road).

The old man came with me, which was nice.  He’s actually gone on a couple short runs with me and might actually be toying with the idea of getting into it a little more.  I’m trying to play cool and not start making a hundred running and race plans for the two of us.  It’s kind of like when I sucked him into my web 16 years ago, I had to pretend I wasn’t interested in spending my life with him.  You see how it works.  In any case, being kind of pudgy and slow at this point, I was immediately laying the “I don’t belong here” rap on myself as I watched all the runners take their place - but Brian makes me brave.  He not only shored me up against my attempts at self-sabotage, but he actually convinced me to run the race in my tights without the pullover tied around my waist to hide my ass!  At first it was terrifying - I imagined much pointing and laughing - but in the end it was liberating.  I ran without concern for fashion, decency, or pantylines.  I don’t suppose it made me any faster, but it felt good to leave all the bullshit back behind the start line.

Thanks Daddy

As for the race itself, I’ll say it was harder than I anticipated - a loooong uphill grade in mile 2 and another uphill in the last 1/2 mile had me chugging.  In the end I actually finished faster than I had anticipated but the real news is that I’m hooked again.  Somehow, I fell out - from running, from racing, from caring much about it.  Now I’ve fallen back in - and it doesn’t feel like my many false starts in the past year.  Maybe it’s spring, maybe it’s an internal shift, maybe it’s finally the readiness to put some shit behind me.  Whatever, I’ll take it.  It feels like what I remember.  It feels really good.