The 8K run

So I did the "Port Fish Day" 8K run this last Saturday. Lots of fun! I'm not really much of a long distance runner, but I signed up in hopes that it would motivate me to start running more. So, I paid my $17 and then there was no turning back. I figured if anything, I get a cool t-shirt out of it (admit it, we all like getting the t-shirts when we do charity runs). The training started out decently, and I went about 3 times a week. Then, I got busy with summer school and had about 2 weeks where I didn't run at all... um, not super helpful to my goal of finishing the race without stopping.

The day of the race, I was a little nervous, since I'd only run once in the 3 weeks before the race, but I was excited to be there with friends to try it out. The first mile was up a steep hill, and I was shocked to see the first mile mark, thinking, "We've only gone a mile??!" At about the third mile, my poor training and extreme heat (it was predicted to be the hottest weekend of the summer so far) began to get to me. I walked for over a mile, drinking lots of water and smiling when one nice local yelled out from her front lawn "That's ok! At least you know when to stop! In this heat, it's better not to push yourself!" I actually felt a little better when she said that.

I ran the last mile and a half again, meeting a couple new friends: an older woman and a girl about my age. The girl and I were running step for step, if one got ahead, the other caught up, and vice versa. By the end, the three of us (towards the tail end of the racers) were friends, chatting it up as we neared the crowd at the finish line. I saw my family at the end, and then suddenly, I saw my three friends, who had left me in the dust long before. They cheered loud, and I suddenly began sprinting to the finish line like I was at the Olympics. My new-found friend began sprinting to catch up. I beat her by a couple steps. I finished in about 58 minutes... not awful considering I walked for about a mile of it.

Despite the slight disappointment of not running the whole race, I had a lot of fun, and poured water all over myself at the end, like in one of those Nike commercials or something. I enjoyed running through the neighborhoods of Port Washington, where the locals had out their sprinklers so that we wouldn't die of heat exhaustion, and little kids set up water stands to hand water cups to the runners. Occasional groups of people cheered us on, not even knowing us, shouting from their lawn chairs or the sidewalk, "You're doing great! Keep it up!"

Next time, I definitely hope to train better so I can actually finish the race without walking. But I enjoyed the friendliness of the runners and the locals, the Lake Michigan view, the fish washing station we saw near the town center, the sprinklers, seeing my 8th grade science teacher Mr. Allen and my Sunday school companion as fellow runners, and just being at a festival dedicated to fish. Sadly, I left before sampling any of the local fish fry, but then again, it was 10 in the A.M. and all I wanted after running was a cooler full of Gatorade.

Later!