Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Running

I don't think I've talked about it yet on the blog but I've decided to enter a foot race. I guess it isn't called a race it's a "run". And the way things are going I doubt I'll be doing much running. Maybe a jog here or there.

My brother-in-law, Dan, ran in this "run" last year and inspired me to give it a try. He now, to me anyways, is a running superhero. I used to be in about the same shape as Dan. That is before he started running. We'd play basketball and football and both be winded. Now Dan runs circles around me. And I don't like it. So I started running. I started January 7th. I take Wednesdays off. I can now run a little more than a mile and a half. I'm going to try 2 miles in the next week or two. My first goal is to run well in the "33rd Annual Dexter-Ann Arbor Run" on June 4th. There are a few long races there but my goal is the 5k. Here's a quote from the website, "NOTE: There is no minimum pace requirement for the 10K and 5K events." That's good for me. I've looked at the calendar and that race is on a Sunday. There goes my first goal. I guess I'll have to find another 5k around June.

Then my goal is the Great Turtle 5.7 mile run. It's on Mackinac Island. We had fun going up there last October to watch Dan. This year I hope to run as well. I'm not sure if Dan is going or not but I'm planning on it. I have a running partner who is planning on trying to run in it as well. I'll try to keep you posted a little on it as I go.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oct. eh? Sounds like something maybe we can attend as a family. We could celebrate your run and your sister's b-day. What do you think?

Anonymous said...

Yeah, the Dexter-Ann Arbor run has a superb route along Huron River Drive right down into downtown Ann Arbor, but it is, unfortunately, on a Sunday morning.

That brings to mind my experience with the run. Luman ran it several years ago, and I volunteered so he could run for free. They had me manning a barricade off Huron River Drive, telling drivers the road was closed. Being a Sunday morning, I encountered a number of well-dressed people toting Bibles, obviously on their way to church. Sadly, some of those church-bound people were some of the rudest people I encountered all morning. (The rudest by far was the man who swore at me profusely and decided I was responsible for the very existence of the run. But he did not appear to be on his way to church.) After a couple such unpleasant encounters, I wanted to actually say something to the rude church-bound people ("Do you know the impression of Christians you're going to give everyone around you?"), but I did not feel it would have been good to do in my capacity as a Run volunteer.

Anyway, the chosen day of the run is unfortunate, but it is an excellent run. (I should say, though, that I have never actually participated in the run itself. Can you picture me running? It's pretty comical.)