First Team Run

So today we had our first official team run. I was a bit late as I went to the wrong side of the zoo. When I got there, there must have been 65 people talking and walking around. It was very windy outside and drizzling just a bit (but that's a nice change to the normal hot and humid SA weather we receive 10 to 11 months out of the year). I was happy to see some people I recognized from the weekday runs. We chatted for awhile and then went through a lot of announcements and a bunch of admin stuff.

Today's run was a 3 mile timed run so that we could be put into our pace groups for all future Saturday runs. So off we went. It is fun to see how people take off and the feeling of doing this as a team and for someone we care about. I know that some of the girls felt a little intimidated because they don't run as fast as most of the other girls. I told them that it doesn't matter. I am not a fast runner by any means, just a very steady runner. I'd say most people could beat me 100% of the time in speed, but I know I could beat them 100% of the time in distance...and sure enough we were half way through our 3 mile run and the bean pole college girls were huffing and puffing and walking. These girls are fast and once they get some endurance under their belts, they'll be good, but it was nice to see some of the other "slower" girls gain some confidence.

I love that running is an equal opportunity sport. Anybody, tall, short, thin, fat, boy, girl, man, women, young and old can run. You can almost bet that when you run, you will NOT be last place. There will always be someone behind you. Running is what is running for you, not for Steve Prefontaine and not for the bean pole college girls. That being said, I did struggle a little bit at the end. I don't think that it was the run in particular, but it was my head. I started to say to myself, what the heck have I got myself into? Can I really run another marathon? The last one was hard enough. But through the early morning sounds of the grackles and the leaves blowing about, I came to a decision: I don't have cancer, I don't have rounds and rounds of Chemo, I don't have the burden of medical bills, so damn it, I'm not going to be lazy and negative. I'm going to run this race!

My final time was 32:50...so about 11 minute miles at an easy pace. I'd like to shave off a minute, so I'll be working on that this season.