Today's blog is a tale of redemption--of the not so serious nature, though. I ran my first 5K since September this morning and I was excited because it was a benchmark race for me--benchmark being a point to build from in this context. I had some idea of what to expect based off of a three mile time trial at the track before the mini-marathon, but I was worried about the heat (almost 80 at 9a). 
In the parking lot before the race I was stretching and there was this Dad (about 55 or so) and his son (early 20s) and they were eyeing me like sometimes runners who think they might win do. They started hooting a bit and running in place. The kid goes behind the door of their SUV and busts out his USA singlet and I'm like, "damn, he's going to bring it." When I got to the the line (in my Empire Runner's Singlet from my running club in California) there was a young kid who looked very fast, a guy in a green jersey who looked fit, an older guy in his 40s in a red jersey, and then the USA kid and his abrasive father. Anyway, gun goes off and we start running. The young, fast kid darts in front of everyone about 200 meters into the race and he looks good as gone. I settle in behind the guy in the green singlet and the guy in the red singlet. USA boy is no where to be found--given his hooting and hollering I am expecting him to run by me and chant or something. I digress. Anyway...it takes a half-mile or so to get into a groove and I found mine. By the mile mark I was in front of everyone and chasing down the young guy. I went through the mile in about 5:25 and I was hopeful because I was gaining on the young buck. The USA guy still was not in sight. This course was an out and back and I caught the leader at the turning point. I could hear him breathing hard and I knew he was toast. I felt bad for him because I've been in his shoes--you go out too fast and then you really just suffer to the end. Not today for me, thank goodness. I passed him right at the 1.6 mile mark and headed back to the finish. I saw I had a sizable lead on the guy in the red, the guy in the green, and another guy I did not see at the start. FINALLY, I saw Mr. USA and it was a good thing because I had been considering stopping, calling the Police, and asking them to put out an APB for the guy---like I said--with his prerace antics and hooting I thought he would be ahead by 2-3 minutes. At the two mile mark I passed through in about 11:10, which meant I slowed a bit. After that it was just a matter of finishing strong and trying to stay way ahead of the second place person. When you run races, the last part of any race becomes about dealing with the pain of going fast or long and you just have to mentally find your place to deal with it. My place is in the center of my brain and I just listen to my breathing, talk myself into just pushing hard, and today--for some reason--the music from the show LOST kept playing over and over again--if you watch LOST it's the part at the end of the series finale when Jack has come to his realization and all the people in the church are celebrating. I hit the third mile in 16:45 and I'm pumped. I finish in 17:17 and win the race. A very unexpected win, but that's how it goes with running in my experience. If you race a lot then you are going to have some disappointing days (like this year's mini-marathon for me), but if you keep honoring running by continuing to run hard then at some point it honors your with a personal record or a fast time or an age group award or for some of us a win. If you honor running, it will honor you.
Let me just say that running is not about winning a race. Today was not my fastest time for a 5K by any means. However, running is about small personal victories that help you feel good about yourself. And...if you run almost every day and your runs give you a sense of accomplishment, then that's a whole lot of days where you feel good about yourself. In this world, those who have a positive outlook and healthy self-confidence really do have a better life. Perhaps, this was the whole point of the show LOST--which is probably why I loved it so much.
Thanks for reading my blog. To finish my story about the USA kid and his father. After the race they were at their car and I was stretching and getting ready to leave. They were still hooting and hollering and acting weird like they wanted me to notice them. The Mom was trying to be nice to the Dad and the Dad was being a jerk. USA boy was acting all big and bad. I was not for sure what their deal was---steroids, crack, too much coffee--but then I saw their license plate and everything made sense. They had one of those Purdue license plates---suddenly the light came on, the seas parted, and the mystery was solved.
Happy running to you!
In the parking lot before the race I was stretching and there was this Dad (about 55 or so) and his son (early 20s) and they were eyeing me like sometimes runners who think they might win do. They started hooting a bit and running in place. The kid goes behind the door of their SUV and busts out his USA singlet and I'm like, "damn, he's going to bring it." When I got to the the line (in my Empire Runner's Singlet from my running club in California) there was a young kid who looked very fast, a guy in a green jersey who looked fit, an older guy in his 40s in a red jersey, and then the USA kid and his abrasive father. Anyway, gun goes off and we start running. The young, fast kid darts in front of everyone about 200 meters into the race and he looks good as gone. I settle in behind the guy in the green singlet and the guy in the red singlet. USA boy is no where to be found--given his hooting and hollering I am expecting him to run by me and chant or something. I digress. Anyway...it takes a half-mile or so to get into a groove and I found mine. By the mile mark I was in front of everyone and chasing down the young guy. I went through the mile in about 5:25 and I was hopeful because I was gaining on the young buck. The USA guy still was not in sight. This course was an out and back and I caught the leader at the turning point. I could hear him breathing hard and I knew he was toast. I felt bad for him because I've been in his shoes--you go out too fast and then you really just suffer to the end. Not today for me, thank goodness. I passed him right at the 1.6 mile mark and headed back to the finish. I saw I had a sizable lead on the guy in the red, the guy in the green, and another guy I did not see at the start. FINALLY, I saw Mr. USA and it was a good thing because I had been considering stopping, calling the Police, and asking them to put out an APB for the guy---like I said--with his prerace antics and hooting I thought he would be ahead by 2-3 minutes. At the two mile mark I passed through in about 11:10, which meant I slowed a bit. After that it was just a matter of finishing strong and trying to stay way ahead of the second place person. When you run races, the last part of any race becomes about dealing with the pain of going fast or long and you just have to mentally find your place to deal with it. My place is in the center of my brain and I just listen to my breathing, talk myself into just pushing hard, and today--for some reason--the music from the show LOST kept playing over and over again--if you watch LOST it's the part at the end of the series finale when Jack has come to his realization and all the people in the church are celebrating. I hit the third mile in 16:45 and I'm pumped. I finish in 17:17 and win the race. A very unexpected win, but that's how it goes with running in my experience. If you race a lot then you are going to have some disappointing days (like this year's mini-marathon for me), but if you keep honoring running by continuing to run hard then at some point it honors your with a personal record or a fast time or an age group award or for some of us a win. If you honor running, it will honor you.
Let me just say that running is not about winning a race. Today was not my fastest time for a 5K by any means. However, running is about small personal victories that help you feel good about yourself. And...if you run almost every day and your runs give you a sense of accomplishment, then that's a whole lot of days where you feel good about yourself. In this world, those who have a positive outlook and healthy self-confidence really do have a better life. Perhaps, this was the whole point of the show LOST--which is probably why I loved it so much.
Thanks for reading my blog. To finish my story about the USA kid and his father. After the race they were at their car and I was stretching and getting ready to leave. They were still hooting and hollering and acting weird like they wanted me to notice them. The Mom was trying to be nice to the Dad and the Dad was being a jerk. USA boy was acting all big and bad. I was not for sure what their deal was---steroids, crack, too much coffee--but then I saw their license plate and everything made sense. They had one of those Purdue license plates---suddenly the light came on, the seas parted, and the mystery was solved.
Happy running to you!
2 comments:
I like the quote a lot.Is it a Josh original ?
Congratulations for the win.Another trophy for my son.Keep up the good vibrations. You know my feeling is that the father & son duo probably was admiring of some facet of you but it came out all wrong ! A smile from you would have done the deed!
... Momma Min
Thank you, Momma Min! I did smile at them...it was just one of those inside smiles. ;-)
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