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.
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