Humbled to the Dust!

There is nothing like a 5K to humble a person. I jog for an hour every single day, so when Dad signed he, Lex, and I up for the Thanksgiving Run to Feed the Hungry, I thought to myself, no prob. I run four miles a day - 3.2 miles should be easy peasy. Um, not so much, as it turned out.

It kicked my butt!! I think there are a few reasons for this.

Number one, Dad and Lex were keeping a crazy pace. Way too fast for me. But they wanted us all to stick together, so I was pushing it way harder than I'm used to. I've been slowly jogging faster and faster on my treadmill, but I'm not up to the pace that they are used to keeping.

Number two, the air was really, really cold. I was having a hard time breathing. Like I said, I jog on my treadmill, inside. A big difference. I had loogies the whole time. They had a couple of stations with this nice, hot lemoney drink, and that helped to clear the loogies, which was nice. But I just didn't feel like I could breathe very well.

Number three, the terrain wasn't flat, like my treadmill. It was up and down and flat and all that stuff.

So it just felt like a torture fest. We started at Freeman park, then ran to the greenbelt and around it, and then back to Freeman. And just when we thought we were done, we had to do a little lap in Freeman park. When I realized that we still had one more loop to do, I said a cuss word. :) We actually walked for a moment in that loop, because Lex had a really horrible side ache. She was kind of grunting, and Dad thought she was going to throw up, so he's like, "Just walk for a minute, Lex." But then we finished it out jogging. It was cute - Lex made all of us hold hands as we crossed the finish line.

I'm really proud of us, though. Who knew that a 54-year-old man, a girl who has had four knee surgeries in the past year, and an overweight mom who recently had a baby, could run in a 5K? And I'm "miles" away from where I was when I started jogging this summer - I used to have to jog for five minutes, walk for five minutes, jog for five minutes, etc. for half an hour, and I thought I was dying. Now I can run for an hour without stopping. That is an accomplishment.

But boy, do I have a long way to go! There was a 5K, but also a 10K. The 5K-ers made a loop, and the 10K-ers followed the same loop, but then lengthened theirs out, and then rejoined us. I don't know if that makes much sense. Anyways, these guys run so FAST. When we were hitting our halfway point, the 10K-ers were rejoining us. They had already run, like, 7 K in the time it took us to run 2.5 K. I wonder if I will ever get to that point. The point where I can do a 10K, no prob. And run so fast. I wonder when it's going to get easier. Lex says it doesn't ever get easier. She's been jogging for longer than I have, and she says it is a struggle, every day. I never, ever want to jog. I get on my treadmill and groan and want to punch something.

But I keep doing it, because I like the results. Dad and Mom took me to get some new jeans for Christmas, and I fit into a size 10!!! I almost started crying. I never thought I'd see a size 10 again! It's wonderful.

Lex wants us to do the Resolution Run - New Year's Eve, at midnight. I'm like, are you NUTS?? It's going to be at least negative five outside! Holy crap! And I haven't jogged this whole week, because we're visiting family in Washington. No treadmill, and the roads are covered with snow. Maybe I should get out Ben's old snowshoes?? So I'll be absolutely unprepared for it. If we do it, part of me is tempted to say, "You two go ahead. I'll keep my own pace, thank you!" But I know they won't let me jog alone. Their little mantra is, "We finish together." So I think I'd just better man up and be prepared for another torture fest.

Oh, P.S., do you like my nice pinning job on my hoodie? It was soooo stinkin' cold, and we had to wait for so long before the race began, so I stole a pin used for the runner's numbers and pinned my hoodie. It helped. Five seconds into the race, though, I was taking off my hoodie. I get so dang hot when I jog.

Oh, and P.S.S., there were like 500 people in that race. It was crazy. We spent the whole time going around people, and people going around us. That wasn't my favorite.

Okay. The end.