Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Nice girls STILL don't finish last.
I thought it best that I bring my recent running successes back to you all so that we may all revel in victory.
Saturday morning the Betrothed and I drove through early morning fog and darkness to Charlottesville to be at my first 10K race. The race course was mapped out on a very scenic, tree lined, two-laned road. The air was crisp and I was ready for action.
It's safe to say that UVA sent every single running group, team, club, intramural, people who once had a dream about running, people who once watched someone run somewhere once from a distance to this race. It was like someone vomited orange and blue all over the runners. Additionaly, I appeared to have underestimated the sheer number of people in Charlottesville who have even the slightest interest in obtaining their own physical fitness through running.
258 entrants all clustered around the start area -- and it was such a low-key race that a woman yelled (however officially qualified she was to do so..) "Ready? Set! GO!" to start the race. No gun, no horn, no whistle. A post-menopausal (I find myself aging people by medical phases rather than chronological age these days..) cupping her hands and shouting started the race. Well, it got us all moving anyway.
I started my race in the middle of the cluster. I didn't want to shortchange myself to much as to assume that I might as well START in the back of the race since that's where I'd finish. And yet, my runner's-ego wasn't polished enough to handle the swarms of people passing me should I decide to wear my balls outside of my shorts and run in the front of the pack.
It ended up not mattering. I spent a good 4.5 miles out of the 6.2 as the very, very last runner in the race. Yes, 258th place. At mile 5 I managed to pass a girl who was never more than 10 or 15 feet ahead of me. I assume her "off like a shot" start hurt her endurance at this point and it permitted me to keep my lead on her for the rest of the race. Cause Lord knows it was the only lead I had at this point. I finished the race in 1:14 and some change and in 257th place -- which is CLEARLY not last. I ran the entire race and maintained my pace the entire time.
Don't feel sorry for me. Feel free to snicker at my finishing place -- I still am. This race was a true personal victory for me. I accomplished an all-time high in mileage and I fought and won a great battle with my own personal discipline (which was half discipline and half "I can't go back and tell them I didn't run the whole thing.." ). And if the word "race" must be taken ever so literally in this case, I beat one person. Which is all you need to win, right? Have at least one person who didn't perform nearly as well as you? {speaking of, the dude who really won the race finished 6.2 miles in about 35 minutes -- the freak.}
I have to say that I was surprised (and very warmed) at how supportive and motivating my fellow 257 runners were. I don't know what I was expecting, really -- maybe a more cutthroat attitude, but it wasn't there. Those on their final return leg of the run still clapped and cheered on those of us that were still running towards the turn around. As I ran down the finish lanes, there were hoards of people cheering and encouraging me to stay strong. Though I admit to mocking the "stay strong" "you can do it" cheering mentality in the past, I have to say that when it's aimed at you after 6.2 miles, it means a great deal. Truly, it didn't matter to them that I finished 257th -- it was as if they all really respected the fact that I finished at all and that maybe it made them all recall that time when they ran their first 10K.
And on the level -- in my own defense -- number #256, 255, 254, 253 weren't far ahead of me -- maybe 30 - 50 feet. It wasn't as if everyone was waiting for prolonged periods of time for the last two runners to arrive. So yeah, I don't suck as much as you were just thinking I did, really.
Honestly, though, the cheering was bonus -- because with my own 3-manned cheering section, I'm quite sure I could have managed at least another .13 of a mile at that point. Maybe even secured the coveted 256th place.
Saturday morning the Betrothed and I drove through early morning fog and darkness to Charlottesville to be at my first 10K race. The race course was mapped out on a very scenic, tree lined, two-laned road. The air was crisp and I was ready for action.
It's safe to say that UVA sent every single running group, team, club, intramural, people who once had a dream about running, people who once watched someone run somewhere once from a distance to this race. It was like someone vomited orange and blue all over the runners. Additionaly, I appeared to have underestimated the sheer number of people in Charlottesville who have even the slightest interest in obtaining their own physical fitness through running.
258 entrants all clustered around the start area -- and it was such a low-key race that a woman yelled (however officially qualified she was to do so..) "Ready? Set! GO!" to start the race. No gun, no horn, no whistle. A post-menopausal (I find myself aging people by medical phases rather than chronological age these days..) cupping her hands and shouting started the race. Well, it got us all moving anyway.
I started my race in the middle of the cluster. I didn't want to shortchange myself to much as to assume that I might as well START in the back of the race since that's where I'd finish. And yet, my runner's-ego wasn't polished enough to handle the swarms of people passing me should I decide to wear my balls outside of my shorts and run in the front of the pack.
It ended up not mattering. I spent a good 4.5 miles out of the 6.2 as the very, very last runner in the race. Yes, 258th place. At mile 5 I managed to pass a girl who was never more than 10 or 15 feet ahead of me. I assume her "off like a shot" start hurt her endurance at this point and it permitted me to keep my lead on her for the rest of the race. Cause Lord knows it was the only lead I had at this point. I finished the race in 1:14 and some change and in 257th place -- which is CLEARLY not last. I ran the entire race and maintained my pace the entire time.
Don't feel sorry for me. Feel free to snicker at my finishing place -- I still am. This race was a true personal victory for me. I accomplished an all-time high in mileage and I fought and won a great battle with my own personal discipline (which was half discipline and half "I can't go back and tell them I didn't run the whole thing.." ). And if the word "race" must be taken ever so literally in this case, I beat one person. Which is all you need to win, right? Have at least one person who didn't perform nearly as well as you? {speaking of, the dude who really won the race finished 6.2 miles in about 35 minutes -- the freak.}
I have to say that I was surprised (and very warmed) at how supportive and motivating my fellow 257 runners were. I don't know what I was expecting, really -- maybe a more cutthroat attitude, but it wasn't there. Those on their final return leg of the run still clapped and cheered on those of us that were still running towards the turn around. As I ran down the finish lanes, there were hoards of people cheering and encouraging me to stay strong. Though I admit to mocking the "stay strong" "you can do it" cheering mentality in the past, I have to say that when it's aimed at you after 6.2 miles, it means a great deal. Truly, it didn't matter to them that I finished 257th -- it was as if they all really respected the fact that I finished at all and that maybe it made them all recall that time when they ran their first 10K.
And on the level -- in my own defense -- number #256, 255, 254, 253 weren't far ahead of me -- maybe 30 - 50 feet. It wasn't as if everyone was waiting for prolonged periods of time for the last two runners to arrive. So yeah, I don't suck as much as you were just thinking I did, really.
Honestly, though, the cheering was bonus -- because with my own 3-manned cheering section, I'm quite sure I could have managed at least another .13 of a mile at that point. Maybe even secured the coveted 256th place.
# posted by Cathy @ 9:03:00 PM 
