The 5K:  It Was Time

By Sylvia Christensen, MapMyRun User

As featured in the APRIL 2008 Newsletter

Daisy 5K

I have put off running for years.  In my mind, maybe I was still a fat kid who didn’t want to try it and look dumb.  I don’t know why it was so scary.  I ran a 7.5-minute mile in high school once.  I probably run quite a few miles in every one of my epic tennis matches.  Maybe it was the length and constancy of the activity.  I couldn’t imagine doing something athletic for minutes and hours strung together continuously and enjoying it (even though I’ve played a 4.5-hour tennis match before!).  Or maybe it’s my aversion to the runners who give me dirty looks when I’m walking my dog out on the trails.  Somehow I’ve always felt that runners have a tendency to look down on people who don’t run, and I didn’t want to be a member of an elitist society. 

I had been talking to co-workers about participating in a rookie triathlon in May and I figured that making sure I could run the 2 miles required was a good start.  I ran a third of a mile to the park the other day.  I MapMyRun’d my dog walks to see how many miles I was actually covering.  I had almost entered a 5K with a friend a few weeks ago, but had an art class conflict.  Austin’s Daisy 5K had come up in conversation at a friend from high school’s house last Sunday.  I was familiar with the race, as a former co-worker of mine was the event director and tried to get me to walk it with my dog a few years ago.  It seemed like a good idea.  3 miles didn’t seem too far.  I knew I walked further than that frequently, so I knew I could finish.

I got it in my head on a Tuesday at work that I would go to RunTex and buy shoes and a timer chip on my way home… and I did.  I got it in my head that I would run up the big hill to the neighborhood watch meeting Tuesday night… and I did.  I entered the race.  I ran 1.5 miles on Wednesday night and didn’t hurt at all (nor was I sore the next day).  My race goal became more ambitious than just finishing… I wanted to finish without stopping.

Thursday was a horrible day.  My dog, Hannah, showed signs of back pain starting Wednesday night and Thursday she was having one of those days where she could barely get up and wouldn’t walk (she’s old).  I gave her pain killers and a muscle relaxant.  I was out a running partner, so I didn’t run at all.
Hannah was doing better on Friday.  I went to work in the morning, picked up race packets for my friend and I, went to lunch, and ran by Betty Sport to use the 20% off coupon that came in my race packet.  It was blazing hot Friday afternoon, so I opted to go to the pool and swim instead of running. 

I couldn’t sleep Friday night.  I was nervous.  I wished I had run at some point in the past 2 days.  I wished I hadn’t had a heavy dinner.  I hoped I would do okay the next morning.  I hoped I could meet my goal of not stopping. 

I went over to my friend’s in the morning so we could carpool.  His wife came to cheer us on and a couple of his friends, also running, met us at the race site.  Suddenly, I was not a runner who lost her dog partner.  I was a runner with a running group! 

One of the interesting things about the Daisy 5K is that the women’s start is 3 minutes before the men’s.  I started in back and let all my friends pull ahead of me almost immediately and put my MP3 player on.  What seemed like 10 seconds later, a flood of fast-running men rushed by me!

Unfazed by the masculine stampede, I bounced along happily to my music for the whole 3.2 miles without much incident.  The hills were pretty gradual, there was a water stop at the 1 and 2 mile marks, and the race really felt pretty easy at the conversational pace at which I took it.  I finished without walking and got the opportunity to tell my friends so as I high-fived them on my way to the finish line.  I got a daisy at the finish line, and then stole 2 more, and now they’re sitting in a nice vase on my kitchen table.  My friends and I took some victory pictures, and then headed out for breakfast to celebrate our awesome-ness.

It was a great morning.  It was really good to be with an old friend, make some new ones, and meet a personal goal all at the same time!  Runners aren’t so bad after all.  I even signed up for a 5K class to improve upon my completely ridiculous 38-minute finish time.  My advice to you walkers out there who are afraid to try running is that it isn’t going to be half as hard as you think.  Run already!

Daisy 5K Race Route:  http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-states/tx/austin/792871684