Slow -- It's the New Fast!

I'm really not sure what possessed me to register for the Grosse Ile Memorial Day 5k Run last year. I hadn't been running, or jogging, or even walking for exercise. Probably it was Tip Top Susie saying something like "Why don't you do that 5k just for fun?" For some reason, it seemed like a good idea to me and I went over to Total Runner and signed up. I didn't do any training, and I was really not committed to becoming a runner or even doing a second event. I was really thinking of it as a "fun run/walk." Just a one-time thing. So there I was, 9:00 am Memorial Day morning 2009, in a crowd spanned the range of ages and apparent fitness, way over dressed for the temperature, my number pinned to my sweat shirt, ready to go.

When gun or whatever went off, I started jogging along. At least Doug got off a snapshot before I gasped and fell back into as fast a walk as I could manage. Yikes! How embarassing is that? Every so often I would try to crank back up to a trot, but that lasted about two driveways. Little kids passed me. Someone with a stroller went by. A couple who looked like they might be in the next age group up passed me, and they were talking!

By the time I got to the water station (2 miles into the 3.1 mile course), I was exhausted. No amount of water would help. The sweatshirt was off and tied around my waist, and I was wishing I had another layer I could remove. Runners from the 8k course had been going by at an easy lope for a while, and even though there were plenty of folks (volunteers for the event, I assume) standing at the side of the road clapping and saying, "Great job, runner! You're almost there!," all I could think was that I wasn't sure I could go another step. And still, I somehow wanted to save a smidge of energy so that I could something more than stumble across the finish.

As I came into the stadium for the final tenth or two of the course, I ramped up to an impressive shuffle. As I came down the final stretch, the announcer said, "And here comes ... uh.. another runner. Congratulations, runner." Oh, right. My number was pinned to my sweatshirt, which was around my waist. Not that I really wanted name recognition at that point.

In the end, my time was 47:28, .8th out of 9 in my age group. The woman who came first did the run in less than 25:00. Are you kidding????

And so commenced my life as a runner.