Forest of Nisene Marks 5k

“Runner” 594, that was me. 

I wasn’t really a runner, more of a walker, trying to be a fast walker with a little bit of running thrown in for good measure, but I did complete my first 5k this month.  Thanks to the kind and persistant work of my sister Anna (who ran, really ran, the 1/2 marathon, finishing 1st in her category and 33rd over all) and the kind and persistent nudging of my friend Sara, I decided to go for it.  

Can you imagine how nervous I was?  How silly to be nervous, but I was.  I was nervous about finishing last, I was nervous about feeling totally out of place among all the runners, I was nervous, nervous, nervous.  But having set my first personal record at Crossfit earlier that week (213# on the deadlift), I had finally wrapped my head around what everyone around me was trying to tell me-I just needed to do it, take that step, and set a time to beat next time.

All of my nervousness was for not-I didn’t finish last, I didn’t get lost (on that very long, convoluted 5k trail with miles markers and orange cones ), I drank a ton of water and still didn’t have to stop during the 5k like the lady in front of me to visit the bathroom, and no one asked me what I thought I was doing at a race.

Actually so many people were nice, helpful and encouraging.  It was fun and almost other-worldly to be greeted at the finish line by people with huge grins and hearty congratulations, it was a treat to have a free massage because I was a racer, and I now have my first race shirt, a rather hideous, day glow yellow shirt. And now I will have to work up a whole new level of determination to actually wear that thing in public…