Running In Place

First of all, Yay for running with friends!! I have occasionally met up with people for races, and maybe twice for casual runs, but the bulk of my past running was always done alone – which I really didn’t mind and actually felt I preferred. This time around, I have been training with my good friend Denise, who is beginning running for the first time as I (re)begin running for the…….oh I’ve lost count of which time it is, but anyway, we are moving through the initial parts of this process together. When we started doing a few days a week on the treadmills at the gym we had kind of unofficially said we should plan for the Heart Run 3 miler but as the weeks went by, our training was spotty due to late evenings at work, illness, and the juggling of my commute, so a couple of weeks ago when Denise said “we’ve got to be ready for that run” I was thinking “damn, I was hoping she forgot about it!” But back to the treadmills we went.

I’ve done the Heart Run before and it’s alot of fun. It’s not timed, not a certified distance, just a chance for people to raise money for the cause and and walk or run anywhere from 3 mile to 30K distances. It consitently raises over a million $$ and had nearly 10,000 participants this year – the community and volunteer support is amazing! So all that is to say that it was a great run for Denise to start out with. We got dropped off at the starting area and waited while the 5 mile runners dashed through (with Denise’s daughter, Melissa, slowing her pace long enough to give mom a hug), then we watched 12 school busses full of other 3 mile runners shuttle in from the finish line. One Star Spangled Banner and starting gun later, we were off and Denise was totally psyched by the energy of it all. She had been doing run/walk intervals at the gym so I said that when ever she felt like she should walk was fine with me but she kept right on pushing through, even though inhaling the cold air had initially made it difficult for her to breath well. In the first mile, as we warmed up, we took several brief (30 – 40 second) walk breaks and Denise told me I could go on ahead. Honestly, part of me certainly wanted to pick it up a little, to push a little harder – but the greater part of me was really enjoying sharing this experience with my friend. It was her first group run, her first time off the treadmill, her first time running up hills, and I wanted to encourage her and to share her satisfaction when it was all done. So Denise set the pace and we waved to spectators and thanked volunteers and grooved a little to the bands and radio stations we passed. We made it up the big hill and rounded the bend to the finish, to be greeted by the, literally, thousands of walkers who were awaiting the start of their event. Denise was tired, and she was pushing hard to get to the end – as we headed towards the finish, we saw her daughter Melissa on the sidelines and she joined us to run mom in. With me on one side and Melissa on the other, Denise poured it on for the last several yards and crossed the line strong, with a big smile and high-fives as her name and donation amount was announced. After grabbing snacks, we met up with Denise’s husband and rode the shuttle back to the car while he rolled his eyes as we chattered about summertime races, the Boilermaker and even a fall 1/2 marathon. I was so happy for Denise’s accomplishment and happy for myself – to be running again, and to have such a good bud to do it with. I think it’s going to be a good year.