The "Jack T. Farrar Jr. Fill the Shoes 5K" - November 6, 2010

Race Day was circled on my calendar.  Debbie and I talked daily about our preparations.  A few weeks before the race, I started running the course.  It was very convenient for me since I could run out my front door and be on the course in half a block.  It was also nice to know what a 5K looked like.  I liked that I didn't have to go out on the main street.  I didn't like the hills.  You can't have everything.

My goal was to run the race in 35 minutes.  I didn't think that I could do an 11 minute mile, but I wasn't going to concede to a 12 minute mile.  On the Thursday before the race, I ran the course in about 36 minutes.  I was hoping for that "boost" people had told me about.  You know, the one you get when you run with a bunch of people?  Well, no, I didn't, but I hoped I would find out. 

The day before, Debbie and I had lunch with our friend, Jean, in Springfield.  After that, off to Metro Run and Walk to pick up our packets.  To say that we were excited was an understatement.  It had also turned cold the week before (earlier than usual) and we didn't own any winter weather stuff.  We needed gloves, a hat, and something with long sleeves.  When I say we were rookies, I meant it.  They outfitted us with a Sugio fleece, which I still love, and a hat and gloves and wished us well.  We got our t-shirts and packets and headed out.  I was honestly excited.  I would have never believed it.

We finalized our plans:  Debbie was going to meet at my house and we would walk to the starting line.  Now to wait.

As we were walking to the area where the runners were to gather, we passed tons of runners "warming up" by basically runnning the course.  We joked that we only had enough run in us for once so we would just have to warm up quickly!  It was a small event (200 runners) so it was a nice race to start on.  Not a lot of chaos.  We ran into lots of folks that we knew who were also running.  They were very encouraging and gave us some pointers.  We lined up and waited for the gun.

I ran the course fairly well.  I was used to the hills so they didn't give me any trouble.  I think I could have run faster, but I didn't want to bonk out and I wanted to run the whole way.  Baby steps, right?  At about the 2 mile point, I had to stop and tie my shoe.  No biggie.  I knelt down and tied it.  Better than tripping!

As I ran the final bit of the race, I pushed the pedal a little bit (at least for me).  I crossed the line at 35:01.  Dang that shoelace!  I wanted a time of under 35.  Oh well.  It's a good story.  "If only I hadn't had to stop and tie my shoe......"

Debbie and I both finished the race and were extremely proud of ourselves and each other for making it this far in our running journey.  We immediately signed up for a 5 mile (yes, I said 5 MILE) Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning.   We had to up our game.  We needed the challenge.  We were runners now!