Sugar Land 5K – 2016
Sugar Land 5K – 2016
Sugar Land 5K – 2016

I haven’t run in an organized race (or even an unorganized one) in probably 25 years.  I was probably around 18 or 19 the last time I did a run.  It was a 10K and if I remember correctly, I think I did okay – not great, just okay.  Running has never been my thing.

As I’ve gotten older and fatter, the idea of running for any reason other than tossing a football around, frisbee etc. has been the furthest thing from my mind.  That was until recently.

I was at my friend Mike’s house for the weekend and we went to his son’s (Bradley) baseball practice.  One of the moms was talking about a 5K they had just finished and before you know it, I was saying, “yeah, we should totally do a 5K!”  I have been wanting to get serious about running since reading the book Born to Run (a fascinating read that I recommend to anyone – runner or not.)

We planned to run on in Sugar Land at the home of the Skeeters minor league baseball team.  I had 34 days to train.

I decided to do “5K Every Day” from that day forward.  The focus wasn’t on time, but on just finishing 5K.  The first day was just walking.  Yes, I did the 3.1 miles simply walking – and recording my time. It was a time of 64 minutes and 4 seconds. (Yes, over an hour) I walked the entire first week to acclimate myself.

After that, I decided to run every third 10th of a mile.  Within a couple of weeks, I was running every other 10th of a mile.  Now, when I say run, I mean jog, shuffled, slide… nothing all that gazelle-like.

Two weeks before the event, I had turned in my fastest time of 42 minutes and 29 seconds. (I told you it wasn’t fast.)

When the day came, it was cold and raining – pretty miserable conditions.  It didn’t matter though, the day had come – I was excited.

When we took off, I was paying attention to my 10th of a mile splits and saying, “I’m taking off way to fast.  I am totally going to crash.”  I didn’t.

My the time I had finished, I had knocked 6 minutes off my OMPR – Old Man Personal Record. (Best time since starting running as an old man) I did it in 36 minutes and 53 seconds.

I think I can break 30…

We all had a great time.