It’s hard
to believe that I ran my very first road race 6 years ago today. I can still remember it like it was
yesterday. I had been a runner in 7th
and 8th grade but lost interest in high school. My Uncle Steve had taken up running again and
he told me I should run the Boston Marathon with him. This was 2006. I figured why not try? I ran
5 miles along the Cape Cod Rail Trail in Dennis after not warming up. It was a huge failure. I pulled every muscle in both legs, it took
six weeks before I could walk right. I
quietly retired. Grand opening, grand
closing.
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| Arriving on race day in my Old Navy fleece. |
Fast forward 5 years. I had only begun running again 6 weeks
earlier, as a way of trying to get the attention of a girl I was interested
in. One ten-minute mile got me hooked,
that and the fact that she was helping coach me. I rushed into my first race, a 5K, because I
was actually seeing and feeling the difference running was making in my
life. I lost 12 pounds from my first run
to race day and in all would lose 40 total before plateauing.
Recently I came across a photo my
Uncle Steve took of me arriving at the event.
I definitely looked the part of a running novice wearing my Old Navy
fleece rather than a track jacket like I would do many times after. One thing was the same then as it is now, I
started running in Brooks shoes and to this day I still do. Well, I will admit that I have tried others,
Saucony, Asics, Mizuno, New Balance, but none of them work for me like Brooks.
I had a
wheat bagel and Dannon toasted coconut vanilla Greek yogurt as my prerace meal. That would become a staple that I
superstitiously still hold on to today. Another
staple from that day was choosing my starting line theme song. Every good movie needs a good soundtrack,
right? I chose the entrance theme of WWE
Superstar Triple H, performed by the band Motorhead, as my theme. The opening line is ‘It’s time to play the
game,’ and that was how I felt, like I was an athlete making my big league
debut.
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| And the aftermath |
I was grateful
to my Uncle Steve, a veteran of more marathons that I have total races, as he
was thrilled I was joining his club and decided not only to run the race too
but shadow me along the way. He slummed
it up with me, barely breaking a sweat. It
was a gray and cool mid-Spring morning made cooler by the fact that much of the
race was along the water.
I made a rookie
mistake of inhaling a GU Energy Gel less than halfway into the race. Anyone not familiar with them they are a
thick gel filled with carbs, electrolytes and other essential minerals to help
fatigued runners get an extra burst.
Sounds good and it is. However
the people that use these things are usually waist-deep in a marathon, or at
least a half, not a little over a mile.
Anyway, I started gagging on it trying to force the stuff down. I am sure my uncle rolled his eyes a bit.
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| Sorry kids, I'll stay seated. |
I was
gassed just over 2 miles in, not that I had any ideas of winning. As I came around the last turn to head toward
the finish line my uncle asked me what I had left in the tank.
“Nothing!”
I said. He told me to give it everything
I had and finish strong. My brain
understood but my body sputtered along like an old go kart. I crossed the finish line just as my sister
Kate, her boyfriend Jim, and my nieces Kaleigh and Emma, and nephew Landon
arrived. They got to see me cross the
finish line and crash to the ground in a heap.
In what
would become another race tradition I found a nice quiet spot of grass on which
to lay. I was exhausted but the kids
wanted to take photos, they gathered around me like an old man in a rocking
chair. I had finished 39th
overall, with a time of 24:28, a pace of 7:53/mile.
I had a
feeling of accomplishment that I had rarely felt. It showed me that when I really wanted
something, or occasionally someone, I could do it. It was something to be proud of, and
something that anybody with the desire can do too. Races are exhilarating, the running community
is something everyone should be a part of.
I have done 40 races now and still remember this first one above all the
others. I guess it is part of my origin
story.
Six years
have passed and many things have changed.
I have been injured more than enough to make someone want to quit, but
the running bug is real. I have trained
for, and run a full marathon, and also been injured while training for said
marathon. I love running but the concept
of 20+ mile training runs does not appeal to me anymore. I have run races with some of my closest
friends, run races with my mother, and maybe have helped inspire others to take
up running as well.
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| Fitting symmetry, my current shoes and my first shoes, both red & silver Brooks. |
Honestly
even with all of the changes that have occurred in these six years I would do
it all again. This chapter has been one
of the best, and worst, of my life. I do
pride myself on never being boring and predictable though. So in that way it has been a resounding
success.
