On The Road Again

Jamey has told us that he doesn't want us running any organized races until after May. I can understand his reasoning, because when you're running in a race, there's that competitive factor that insidiously creeps into your thinking. And it does affect your running. You'll push yourself more than normal and the possibility exists for overuse and injury to occur because of it.

But when Romie brought a flyer home from work a few weeks ago for the YMCA of Van Wert County 5K Race to be held on April 26th, I kind of wanted to do it. At that point, I was already running/walking at least two miles or more during my 30-minute workouts, so what was one more mile? I'd just use the 5K as my training for that day.

I talked to Ashley and Kerrie about it at work and they both said they wanted to do it too. So last week, I got us signed up and paid the $10 entry fee. We'd agreed that if nothing else, we'd have a t-shirt, even if we ended up not doing it.

Last night, I spoke with Kerrie on the phone and she told me she wasn't going to be able to run the 5K with me. Ashley had already told me on Wednesday that she couldn't either, so now I was on my own. I'd had a pretty exhausting day yesterday and when I woke up this morning, I hurt all over and it was cold and windy and I decided I wasn't going to do the race either.

I lounged around until about 11:00, then got dressed so I could go pick up our t-shirts before the race started. Somewhere around 11:07, I decided I would go ahead and just run. Why not? I needed to run today anyway.

But I went about this all wrong. I hadn't run since Monday. I hadn't done anything since Monday, except for working in the garden. I'd had nothing to eat or drink. I wasn't entirely convinced that running the 5K was a smart thing to do. Mentally, I was wishy-washy about it. But I opened a jar of peanut butter and shoved a big scoop of it in my mouth, grabbed a couple of granola bars and a bottle of water and headed out the door.

The race started at 12:00 at the entrance to Camp Clay on Liberty-Union Road west of Van Wert. We went south to Old Tile Factory Road and turned west. O.M.G. There were 30-mph headwinds as we tried to cover that mile and so many horrible thoughts went through my mind at that point - "What the heck was I thinking?" "I have NO business doing this." "I want to just go over to the side of the road and sit in the ditch right now." "Oh please, let a car come by and pick me up."

Then I started to think rationally. I ran for a couple of minutes, then walked a couple until I caught my breath. Ran a couple, walked a couple. In the two places where there were trees and a house to break the wind a little, I tried to take advantage of that and I ran. I knew once I got to the corner and could turn, it would be easier running.

I turned the corner at Richey Road and now the wind was blowing from my left. This was a great improvement and I ran more like I'm used to running. At the halfway point, they had a water station set up and I stopped for about 15 seconds and drank a little water. I finished that half-mile stretch of road by running/walking, then turned the corner and headed east on Tumbleson Road.

Now the wind was at my back! I was good and warmed up by this point and it actually felt good running. I set a goal for myself of running that entire mile without stopping. I'd not ever run a full mile straight before, but with the help of that wind, I thought I could do it and I did. That brought me back to Liberty-Union Road and the home stretch.

I continued to run the couple tenths of a mile to the entrance, where I turned right again and headed toward the finish line. The last tenth started out with a slight incline and I walked a little bit of that, but wanted to finish by running. That was much more difficult than I ever expected - running that last little bit. As I crossed the finish line, I was given a tongue depressor with the number 47 on it. That let me know that I was 47th overall. The time on my watch showed 33:20. (My official time was 33:11 - I didn't stop my watch right away when I crossed the finish line.)

I walked up to the building where everyone was congregating, eating snacks and drinking water and waiting for the results. Most of the people there had been running for awhile and many of them knew each other. I did see and talk to several people that I knew and I was surprised to learn that they were runners.

Time for the race results and awards! They started with the youngest age group and worked their way up to the oldest. The top two male and female runners in each age group were awarded a medal and there were also awards for the top two male and female runners overall.

No one was more shocked and excited than I was when they called my name for placing second in my age group. I'd won a medal! I thought I was going to cry. Before the race, I told several people that I didn't care if I didn't win a thing (and didn't expect to). I just wanted to finish without collapsing. But I have just enough of that competitive spirit in me that deep down I really was hoping I could win one of those medals. Being 50 years old didn't hurt, because there weren't that many female runners aged 50-59.

So, Jamey, while I know you're not happy with me right now and I fully expect to receive a tongue-lashing from you, for the moment I'm going to bask in the glow of my medal.

Two months ago, I can guarantee you I would have laughed in anyone's face if they'd told me I would be running in a 5K race, let alone coming home with a medal. Runner's high? You bet.