Saturday, May 05, 2007

cue Vangelis

On second thought, rather than cueing the theme music from "Chariots of Fire," today's story might be better set against music from a movie titled something like "Rickshaws of Warm Milk."
Yes, I ran in my first 5K this morning.

It was actually kind of fun! Except for the part about waking up at 5:45 a.m. and seeing snow outside my window. Yes, snow. In May. The boy was excited to run in the kids' half-mile fun race, though, so I resisted the urge to dive headfirst back under the warm covers.

Also, the part about my hands going numb from the cold and my face feeling like it was going to fall off during the first half of the race (running into the arctic wind) wasn't so fun.

And neither was the end, when I gave all I had in the final stretch and, after crossing the finish line, thought I might throw up on the shoes of my nice neighbor, who's job it was to pull the little information tab from my paper number.

But other than those things, it was great.

Actually, I'm being more melodramatic than is warranted (a REAL shocker, I know). It was big fun to start the race with our son, who is basically a rocket ship with feet. He flew out ahead of me immediately, so I got to watch him and the other kids hit their halfway mark, then u-turn it and race back to the finish line (we gave each other a high-five as he passed me going the opposite direction).

I had driven the course last week, so I had some idea of how long 5 kilometers is. Let's put it this way: It's longer that I am accustomed to running. This course is mainly on asphalt, too, so it was also harder than the prairie/trail running I prefer. But I did run (rather than walk) the whole thing, which was a good feeling. It was humbling, however, to see the winner of the 10K come in only minutes after I finished the 5K. What kind of supplements are these people TAKING? And while I was nowhere near first place, I did get first place for the female 30-39 age group. So, that was pretty cool. The boy came in second place in the kids' race, which meant that both of us got pretty medals to show off.

5 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:31 PM

    Congratulations to both of you! I haven't done a timed run since college and that was only cuz I had to. You are a much braver woman than me :D

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  2. Ummh, I think they gave you a boy's medal, or are they unisex models? I like the artful green ribbon layout.

    Seriously, well done on the 5K.

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  3. I'd do that distance on horseback...

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  4. M, I wouldn't say I'm braver than you. Crazier, maybe...

    LOL, Ken. Yes, I was defitely more bundled-up (and, uh, curvy) than the runner on the medal. :-o I like the ribbon part, too.

    Heidi, I wish I'd thought of that before the race. The registration sheet did say no dogs or strollers were allowed on the course. It didn't say ANYTHING about horses, though. :-D

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  5. Anonymous11:03 AM

    First place??? You're such a jock, girlfriend. I just love that. I'm really proud of you!

    I've never done ANY races of ANY sort and yet this weekend we're going to walk/jog/waddle in a 5k charity event. I can honestly say that I'm scared. We haven't done any "training", not even walking to the corner store, and even though I can lean on little dude's stroller, who knows if my knees will hold out. What was your time? A runner pal of mine just did a 5k in like 18 minutes and our little family is guessing that it will take us 1.5 hours.


    I'm not joking about that.

    - L.

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