run-around

sorry for the quality. cell phone picture.

I am a professional runner now.

Not really, but I did run my first ever officialized-type race (5k) this weekend.

We (chiss &I) hadn’t trained much due to house fires (on her part) and laziness (on mine).  I waited in line for an hour on Friday to pick up our packets where I got peppered by well meaning and terrifying questions from a sweet middle-aged man about my target time and the length of my training regime.

After realizing how inadequately prepared I was for running this, I got up at a ridiculously early hour, moseyed on down to the Y, and learned  professional runners lesson#1.

Only noobs wear their race t-shirt on the actual day of the race. Oh dear! Apparently this is the equivalent of calling someone right after a date or writing on your own facebook wall. 

We had to wait for almost 2 hours, since everything had been delayed.  In the meantime, I learned lesson #2, Don’t ever expect to use the bathroom that morning. There were 2000 people registered for the 5k alone and probably 2000 more for the half-marathon, so waiting for a 2 stall women’s bathroom took forevvvvvvvvver.  

FINALLY, we get running and, thank you Lord, my ipod decided to bypass all my sad, sleepy indie music and go straight to the most awesomest running songs it had at its disposal. During mile 3, “Don’t Stop Believing” came on and I spent the rest of the race envisioning all of us singing it together, Glee style, while we ran.

This brings me to lesson #3, adrenaline makes up (a little!) for lack of training. I hadn’t run more than 2 miles since August, but I ran the whole race and had energy to spare. All the excitement in the air (and all those girls looking fit in their spandex tights) really inspires you to keep going.  I kept imagining that the people on the sidelines were cheering for me.

Anyway, after crossing the finish line, I unearthed #4. Running races is addicting. By nightfall I was already looking for a 10k to run with my awesomely hardcore friend, JP. 

Another benefit: I felt ridiculously productive running 3 miles, eating breakfast, showering, and being on the road to visit my cuz by noon.  Yikes!