Yesterday was race day!! And as predicted it was FREEZING!!! Well, at the beginning it was cold! But then, about a mile in, I was wishing I had left the fleece in the car! You see there were so many people crammed into the street that our body heat temperature was probably a good 30° F higher than the air temp. Overall, The Run Around The Pines 5K was great! But it was especially great if you like running (or drowning) in a sea of people! There were 1316 people participating and I think they all ran right with me the whole way! Wait, am I the star of the remake of “The Truman Show”? It sure seemed that way! I was dodging and weaving around people of all ages. It was more a test of my coordination than a foot race.
While I was dodging and weaving, my mind started doing it’s thing. I started watching people and their different running styles. Some styles you would like to emulate and others you wish you had never witnessed. (You know what I’m talking about!) It made the race go by faster and I found that I would sprint ahead just to see different runners. So I thought I would share my findings with you…but first you have to pledge not to be offended if you fall into one of these groups! Promise? Ok, here goes…
Let’s start with the group I call the Über Runners. These are those people that run the entire race with ease. While I’m panting my way through every step and hoping that my breakfast doesn’t reappear, the Über runners are gracefully prancing at break neck speeds with out even breaking a sweat! How do they do that? Better yet, how can I do that?
Then, we have the Painful Overachievers. These are those runners that run fast but look as though they are going to keel over at any moment. They are moaning and groaning somewhere near the front of the pack, while their knees are buckling and their stride is floundering. You know you can beat them, and yet you don’t!
Then, there are the “Made You Look” Loud Landers. You know, those people that have no control over the impact their feet make on the pavement, so it sounds like they are flopping their size 14 clown feet as loud as they can. You hear them coming, even over the music blaring in your ears. You can’t help but turn around to see what’s making all that noise. Surprisingly, it’s usually a 9 year old with teeny-tiny feet.
Oh and there are always those people that run with intermittent walk breaks. Let’s call them the Hurry Up and Wait Runners. Why do they get to take walk breaks while I struggle to stay on pace and yet, they still beat me across the finish line? I know, they are following the training plan of the great Jeff Galloway. I get it! I even tried it, but it’s not for me! Once I get this train a movin’, stopping before the finish line is not an option! But anyway, according to my calculations, I should beat these “hurry up and waiters”, if for no other reason than the fact that I ran the whole way and they didn’t!
The list goes on and on! There are the Spitters, the Up-Chuckers, the Boogie Blowers that you really don’t want to run behind! The Constant Talkers, and the Singers that you can try to ignore, but somehow get inside your head. And, of course, the Finish Line Picture Bandits that throw themselves between you and the photographer just as the picture is snapped. Are you kidding me?! Will I ever get a picture of me crossing the finish line?
All in all, it was a wonderful race! I ran faster than my last race! And I have to thank all of my fellow runners for keeping me entertained throughout the race! I hope I did the same for them!
So I got an email today inviting me to a “meet and greet” and a 5 hour running school session with Jeff Galloway. OMG!!! If your wondering who this guy is, don’t worry, I didn’t know who he was until a few months ago either. But for anyone who has ever researched running a marathon, this is THE go-to guy. He has helped hundreds of thousands of people reach their marathon goals, whether that be finishing their first, or bettering their time. I am hoping that he can help me not make a fool of myself as I crawl across the finish line in January!
Mom Can Run? 