Race #1

Valentines Day 2009. No flowers, no candy, no visit from a distant "gentleman friend" but I'm running my first 5K. Who needs flowers, candy or a man?!?

Jennifer and Kathy are 10 years younger, run outdoors every morning at 5:30am in the Sarasota heat and have included wind sprints in their training regime. I on the other hand make my way to the gym around 2:00pm after my "story" finishes at 1:30pm and put in my time on a treadmill in the comfort of an air conditioned building. And if I'm lucky I get on one of the treadmills directly underneath a fan.

I stick to my eight week training plan but don't quite get to week eight before race day dawns. But it doesn't matter. My goals are few, 1) actually run - oops I mean jog - the entire race and 2) NOT FINISH LAST!

Jennifer, Kathy and I meet at my house and head over to Payne Park for our big run. I wear my pink "I Love (heart) NY" t-shirt to commemorate Valentines Day. Jennifer's husband and four kids plan to meet as there as do Kathy's husband and and kids. My nervousness grows, now there are even more people I know that will witness my humiliation of coming in last!

We pick up our race packet and then there is a lot of standing around waiting for the race to start. The race field is about 200 and the lady at packet pick-up assures me, I won't be last. I start scoping out the field, looking for the person who is going to come in last so I can be sure they stay behind me!

We finally line up and the race gets started. Jennifer and Kathy quickly leave me behind but that's okay. I sort of want to run alone this time and on advice from my brother, don't want to start out too fast. The race immediately takes us up to the highest natural elevation in Sarasota County - 32 feet above sea level! Good news, the rest of the course is flat. I get to the first mile marker and was feeling good. I think my pace is about 11 minutes a mile. At the end of mile two, I started to question just why I felt the need to do this. I was getting hot and winded. Right about that time one of the spectators yells "Go NY!!" and I get my first hit of "cheering-drug." Seems crazy but hearing a stranger cheer me on specifically gave me just a little more energy and desire to finish the last mile.

I ended up with a finish time of 35:40, a little better than a 12 minute mile pace. Not last and I jogged the entire race, no walking. It was a totally fantastic event. Of course Kathy and Jennifer both finished ahead of me but I certainly didn't care, they were there to cheer me over the finish line as promised.

Oh, when do I get to call myself a runner? When I break 30 minutes for a 5K. Yup, another goal.