5k

Today I ran a 5K.

Sort of. It was the Knights 5K, the first our school has ever hosted, and it got a surprising amount of participants. I signed up for it a while ago, believing it would motivate me to get in shape after taking a self-extended break from volleyball season. I knew I was out of shape because at volleyball open gyms one night a week, running for my loose volleyball was difficult, and I had to catch my breath before spiking it again - sad. Just sad.

"I'll run over break" (last week) is what I said to myself. It didn't happen. I've been eating like a horse ever since my body started absorbing the food like it's supposed to. I hadn't been feeling that well for a while, so exercising seemed nearly out of the question. I could barely go to work.

Sob story aside, I finally began feeling better a couple months ago, but was still in this "I don't feel that well" pattern of living. Don't ask me how. It just happened. Anyway, this 5K needed to happen, and I needed to participate, so I asked Tera if she wanted to do it, and she asked her dad, and a couple days ago, we both agreed that the running part of the 5K might be a little rough.

"I'm going to walk a little."

"I think I'm going to walk a lot."

"That's fine."

Yeah, okay, so it was agreed upon then. Tera and I would run just a little and walk a lot. No big deal. This was the sort of thing I could wake up 10 minutes before to do. It would require a little extra exerted effort than the 4 miles I walked about 5 days ago, but that was fine. Surely there would be a couple older people behind us and a good amount of housewife walkers, too.

This morning I stood just off to the side of the dining room at the school while Tera and her dad went through a series of more professional stretches. So I stretched my calves and my quads a little, not really believing I'd run that much.

"They clear the signs or you have to get picked up by a squad car after 45 minutes, so you know," someone had said.

That's 15 minutes per mile. Oh yeah. I've got this. I'm a pretty good fast walker.

In the cold we walked. It was pretty breezy this morning. They played music. We had our numbers on, Tera and her dad put their iPod earbuds in, and I jumped a little like I saw some of the other runners doing, and then I got a little nervous.

It had just hit me: a 5K is a race, not a stroll.

And I hadn't run in about 4 months, much less done much rigorous walking.

So when the fog horn went off, I paced myself by Tera's dad until I had to tie my shoes, which had to be done 2 other times. The third time I tied and double-knotted them, a guy with his kid in the stroller passed me and Tera had been done with walking and had begun running more now.

I had perfectly planned to (excuse my language) half ass this race.

Tera wasn't half assing it like she'd agreed. She was working toward whole-assing. So I picked up my pace, too, even though my deceptively tall and more slender body hadn't been through it in a while. Vince Vaugn once said, "I'm the flabbiest thin person" and I totally understand what he means.

My students cheered at water stations, and I sped a little to pass them, but stopped to walk until there was a hill that would kick start my ambling jog to Ks 3 and 4.

I at least decided that I should leave the baby stroller guy behind as well as the fast-walking woman about my age. She was very good at fast walking. So I passed her and slowly crept back up to Tera, who began to whole-ass this 5K again.

And then the end came, way too long after the part in the last stretch when I told my self that, yes, people can see me, and in front of large crowds I would not walk, so I would just keep it up until it was done. I heard a couple students yell out good work and some other people say it, too, and then I realized that some real racers were at this 5K, but I wasn't one and neither was the really good fast walker or the moms that were walking almost just in front of the squad car. And maybe without the stroller that guy would have been a racer, but really it was just more about completing it.

I'm not really a runner, but I could probably do better. In fact, it was an exciting first 5K experience, and I learned that next time, and there will be one, I'll be in better shape for it.

Note: don't sign up for a RACE if you're not planning on racing. Or do, because it might motivate you to step it up a little, especially if your body is healthy and you are capable.