Life... and a free t-shirt

Last Sunday, My 17 year old son, Jesse and I ran in the Greenlake Gobble and Munch Off. A fun Thankgiving themed 5k run around Greenlake. I like to take part in these little runs around Seattle, not only for the exercise and the to find out if my times improve at all, but mostly I do them for the free t-shirt. It's my trophy, what I wear that reminds me (and whoever notices) that I completed the race; that I started, endured and crossed the finish line.

Because I can't justify spending $30 or $40 dollars on a run right now, I've made it a habit to volunteer to help with registration and then run for free. Well, La Nina has come the Pacific Northwest and what that meant for Sunday morning was freezing temperatures outside, and numb appendages for those standing around in them. Two hours we stood, getting colder by the minute, when all of the sudden it was time to run. No warm up, just get in line and wait for the gun.

As I started the race, I couldn't feel my toes and I moved a little slow. I wondered how I was going to complete these 3.1 miles, after all icebergs can't run! But I kept moving. After a mile or so, I began to warm up and so I tried to move a little faster. Now I'll be honest, I hate running. I always have. So as I pushed my self to move faster forcing air into my lungs until they burned, all I could think about was crossing the finish line.

It was almost 2 miles before my toes were completely thawed and pain free. I hate running! It just plain hurts, especially when I have to get up early and it's cold and I'm trying to beat the old guy that's passing me on my left--sorry, I digress. But I kept going, I persevered because I knew how amazing I would feel when I crossed the finish line. I ran when I wanted to walk. I ran when I wanted to stop. I had to. How else was I going to get to my car?

After longer than I'd hoped, the finish line was finally before me. Only I was different now. Instead of being cold, I was warm (sweaty, actually). Instead of feeling slow and stiff, I felt energized and agile. It's after I cross the finish line that I remember why I run. Because I love how I feel the rest of the day. My body is stronger and healthier, and it has effects in every other thing I do. So as much as I hate the workout, it's worth the endurance to keep going, and to find out that despite the cold miserable start, I would finish feeling amazing. And on top of that, on this particular November day, I would finish with a personal best; 28:44. If you would have asked me 10 years and 70 pounds ago if I thought I would ever run a 5k at all, much less at less than 10 minutes a mile, I would have spit out my M&M's laughing so hard. But here I am, and I did it... And tomorrow, I'll get up, I'll put my t-shirt on and I'll run a new race all over again!

Happy Thanksgiving!