A few weeks ago I noticed the banners at the Meyer Center advertising the “Girls Just Wanna Run” 5K Run/Walk – the t-shirts were cute, you got a great goodie bag and I had nothing on the calendar for this morning – so I paid my registration fee which then obligated me to start some training!
I gave up any ambitions for an Olympic running career a long time ago and my left knee let me know in no uncertain terms that a marathon is NOT in my future. Good thing – the whole thought of running for many, many hours doesn’t excite me at all. But every once in a while I need to get in the groove and push myself with a goal. That’s one of the ways I’m trying to keep the old-age truck from running over me.
My running shoes hadn’t seen much use since I did a mini-tri last fall so I laced them up and started training. There aren’t many flat places to run where we live so I stuck to the track at the gym. Over the last few weeks I managed to run 2 miles without stopping (a major feat for me) – then I’d walk a lap and finish off another mile of running before cooling off. I calculated that running outside with some inclines and in high humidity would drop my time so my goals were 1) to have fun; 2) look good; 3) finish the event in under 42:00.
The having fun part is always easy – anytime you have a crowd of several hundred women, fun is a sure thing. I made new friends as we waited in the porta-potty line and at the start – and I saw some of my buddies who were also participating in the event. I scored a great new workout skort and matching top at TJ Maxx so I had the looking good part down – plus they were black so all my fat in the middle didn’t show as much.
But best of all, my stopwatch showed a finish of 39:25. I have no idea how anyone else in my old-age group did and I really don’t care. I’m competitive with myself and like to exceed my goals. Considering the humidity was almost unbearable and there wasn’t any water until about the 2.5 mile mark (I took a few sips and then poured it over me), I was just glad to see the finish line. And yes, I did walk part of the route – probably at a faster pace than when I ran.
Now I just need to get some miles on my bike this week…………next Saturday is the MS150 Pancake Ride. Yum!
