22 March

What was I thinking about when I thought about running?

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I'm not sure why I decided to start running races. I think it was Kona - I'm pretty sure it was Kona. The coverage every year is cringeworthily cheesy, but I found myself nibbling on that cheese and, if not growing to like it, at least not being sickened by it.

Who can finish something like that? Do you actually have to be strong, or is stubbornness enough? Am I that stubborn? Could I be that stubborn?

Anyway, I've been running. Only a few weeks, and mostly on treadmills, but enough to confirm that I've got a base of orneriness that I might could cultivate. If I had enough motivation. Having a long term goal is one thing, but to get there I need intermediate goals to keep my enthusiasm up.

A 5k race just down the road a piece seemed as good a place as any to start suffering. I had two goals going in: finish in under 24:00 (ambitious), and finish in the top half of my age group (looked probable based on past years results).

The Boss somehow let herself get talked into joining in as well. Her goal was not to finish last, which I'm happy to report she achieved.

I woke up that morning with a cold, but I felt fine as we lined up to start. I didn't feel nearly as nervous as I'd thought I would. There was a cop stopping traffic as they started us off across 4-lane Hastings Drive and we took off through the streets of Manassas.

Since the race was affiliated with an elementary school, there was a large group of skinny young kids bunched up near the front of the pack, but they soon spent up their meager stores of energy and I picked them all off in the first few hundred yards. Went around an adult or two as well. I was feeling fairly good, and at the one mile mark there was a guy calling out our splits. "7:16!" he hollered as I wheezed by.

This turned out to be a little ambitious. Over the next mile and a half or so I kept hearing heavy breathing in my ear just before getting run down by yet another racer with better pacing than mine. Must have been at least 20 - 30 people passing me over that stretch. "15:32!" was the call as I passed the two mile mark. My pace had dropped by about a minute.

Nearing the 3 mile mark we turned off the trail through the park and back onto Hastings Drive, into the teeth of a vicious hill leading back to a partial lap around the parking lot to the finish. A volunteer directing traffic called out "Come on, dig!", but I was dug out, and told him as much. No one passed me on that hill, though. Best I recall.

Coming back in to the parking lot, though, I once again heard heavy breathing over my shoulder. Sounded female. Determined not to get run down again that close to the finish, I didn't turn to look, just put the hammer down. As I neared the finish line the clock they'd set up there told me I was close to setting a PR, and I felt weightless as I crossed the line. I didn't beat my goal time but I did cut 4 seconds off my personal best. Good enough for my first race.

The way the timing worked was, someone clicked some sort of clicker to signify a finisher as each person crossed the line, then we had to keep our same order in the chute before ripping off the bottom portion of our bib numbers and handing them over. Then they matched up the clicks and bib numbers in the same order to get the times and positions. Waiting in the chute to hand over my number, I heard the woman behind me (I assume the same one that had nearly run me down) remark that her goal had also been 24:00. Oh well. Tough course, maybe.

I walked back out to wait for The Boss, and finally saw her walking out up that hill towards the parking lot. I saw she had some other walkers behind her, and worried that they'd take her at the finish. Every now and then she'd start into a little shuffle jog, and then fall back into a walk. The women trailing her were doing the same. In the end, they stayed in the same order coming into the chute, and The Boss finished ahead of some 50 - 60 people. Some of those were women pushing strollers, and people hanging back to stay with their families, but still, easily eclipsed her goal. Also cut some 2+ minutes off her personal best.

In the end, I wound up 54th out of 349. Around the 84th percentile, and 10th out of 34 in my age group. The Boss says my result was 80% ability and 20% stubbornness, which sounds about right.