It Became My Crack

14 mile training run; longest since last year's marathon. Ouch :) The first 9 miles actually went really well.  But, then, I kind of hit a wall.

At least it was warm and sunny today! Listened to a podcast on human trafficking from howstuffworks, one on standardized testing from The Story...this one was pretty cool. A school administrator in Florida took his state's 10th grade aptitude test. And failed...It also included a story about Siglinda Scarpa, a rather, umm, eccentric woman who operates a cat rescue farm in North Carolina. Finished up with a sermon by Steve Daugherty from Crosspointe Church in Cary, NC. He is one of my favorite preachers and I try to catch Crosspointe's podcasts every week.

So, I've been telling about my experiences getting started running back in 2002. After that first embarrassingly painful run on a crazy cold February day, I kept at it. The plan was simply to go a little further each time out, which I did. I even bought my first running shoes, putting away my air walks one and for all. It would be quite a while before I'd buy any other running gear. For now, my 'uniform' consisted of xxl t-shirts and baggy shorts.

Caleb, unfortunately, didn't hang in there with me, although we did run  together again a time or two his sixth grade year when he ran cross country for his Middle School. By then, I'd made a lot of progress and was preparing to run my first 5K.

I get that calling a race a 5K or 10K is more fun that calling it a 3.1M or 6.2M, but, for those of us metrically challenged, it can be a bit to get used to. After all, this is still the U.S., and, yes, I know the metric system makes more sense and most of the world employs it. But...well...this is still the U.S., and we don't :) At least not for anything besides 5K's and 10K's.

I saw the brochure for Hazelwood's (our neighborhood in Pittsburgh) 5K Run/Walk on a counter somewhere. Honestly, I think it was at the local Bruster's Ice Cream shop, which was operated by a guy who was known for riding his bike across the U.S. and other pretty impressive distances. Ironic that I picked it up along with a couple of turtle sundaes? Perhaps. But, I had reached (blown past, actually) my weight goal, and at 32 years old was finding that as long as I ran 4-5 times a week I could pretty much eat whatever I wanted and remain around 170. This has since changed :)

I'd never thought about entering any races, and certainly wasn't considering actually 'competing' in them if I did run. But, I was intrigued. I wasn't certain how far I even ran most of the time. I just ran for 30-40 minutes 4-5X/week listening to the Dan Patrick show or something else on one of the two sports talk radio stations in town. I wondered how far 5K was. I wondered how fast I could do it. I wondered what was accepted as a 'good' time.

I mailed in my application along with my check and early on the morning of October 5, 2002, Denise and I made our way down to 2nd Avenue along with the other runners and their supportive family and friends. Denise had also started running, but has yet to enter a 5K or any other race. Just not her thing. But, as I learned that day, cheering for her formerly fat husband is one of her things.

As I'd never done this before, I tentatively watched the other runners warming up, mimicking their stretches, their postures, their strides as they jogged a bit to loosen their muscles. I re-pinned my race number bib because...well...it was not on correctly.

A typical Pittsburgh drizzle cooled the air a bit, but not too bad. The temperature without wind or rain in your face was in the mid-50's. Of course, wind and rain would, in fact be in my face.

I was excited, though, and didn't really care.

The 95 entrants lined up as time for the start approached. A newbie, I didn't know that this was a relatively small number. I only knew my heart was starting to pound, my head was rushing and I never heard the gun.

I'd lined up just behind the front, and when they took off, so did I.  We sounded like a herd of cattle clomping down Second Avenue. Not many people had come out to watch, and once we left our wives and friends behind to wait for us at the finish, we had the streets pretty much to ourselves.

The first mile + I hung right with the leaders, but soon realized this was not going to last and remembered I'd not entered to win, just to see if I could do it.

After that, the details are fuzzy. It's been nearly 10 years, after all.

I remember passing Carl and Kris, our next door neighbors who volunteered w/ the neighborhood association and were thrilled with the number of runners in this year's race. They seemed a little surprised to see me, and cheered my name.

I remember as we turned back onto to Second Avenue 1) being filled with righteous indignation at the 3-4 runners who passed me by cutting across a parking lot and shaving off the corner; and 2) remembering that the remainder of the race was mostly flat and straight. I'd done the hard part (only 1 significant hill) and was home free.

Turning into the lot where we'd finish, I saw and heard Denise cheering for me. Later, she'd email all our friends and relatives bragging on me. Seeing her smiling and clapping under her umbrella,  I tried to sprint home, but there wasn't much left in the tank. Turns out 5K was about as far as I'd ever run in my life, and I'd certainly never done it this fast.

I finished in 25:19, a pace of 8:10/mile. I came in 3rd in the 30-34 year old male group. Out of 5. I think I got a ribbon or something.

I was hooked.