Run, Run Away

Been very busy lately and working through a lot of lunches (when I usually crank these articles out) but I've got a little time right now so let's chat.

As I mentioned in my 2011 New Year's Resolution post I have been working myself up to running 5k's.  All inside running so far but I am ready to graduate to running outdoors, I think.

My run/walk 5k record for the treadmill is 32:40 [Editors Note: as of yesterday, my record is now 31:49], and my longest run without a walk break is 19 minutes.  I was surprised about the second one since I did that after 6 days off for being sick (some sort of respiratory thing).

My target before my first race is to be able to either a) finish without a walk break or b) finish under 30 minutes.  I added the first one after checking out forums and finding out to my dismay that 30 minutes is, apparently, only slightly faster than just standing there and letting Continental Drift do all the work.

The people who bothered to answer the question "What is a good time for someone's first 5k?" must be Olympic-level athletes, Olympic-level liars, or part velociraptor.  One guy even answered 12:45, which is an average of 14.6 miles an hour and only 8 seconds off the world record for 5000 meters.  Clearly he has a way different definition of what "good" means than I do... although it is possible he has different perceptions of time and distance than I do as well...  Maybe he lives the Matrix. I don't know.

I bought some wrist reflectors yesterday to reduce my chances of being unintentionally hit by a car during my near-future pre-dawn (5:15 AM or so) runs.  I chose the neon yellow ones instead of the pink ones because they were more manly.

Yes.  That was my reason. 

It wasn't until my wife and I walked out of the store and she started in with the Wonder Woman jokes that I realized I chose poorly.  I think she pictures me spinning around and around in the driveway then dashing off, resplendent in my star-spangled underwear and red-and-gold halter top, only to fall into the ditch at the end of the driveway where I lay until someone notices me there around 6:30 or so.

In my defense the only other semi-reasonable non-clothing option was a small LED thing that you clip on your shirt or wherever it won't chafe too badly.  Actually, I own one already.  I bought it a couple of years ago when I decided I was going to take up running but I never used it.  That's not true.  I used it twice, both times to light up the inside of a Jack-o-lantern on two Halloweens.  It worked great.

Laziness aside, the reason I never used it is that it works too well.  This red blinky thing is super-bright.  If I actually used it to jog with people would call 911 with complaints that it looks like either a large aircraft is slowly taxiing down the road or a that a super-quiet rave has broken out in the cul-de-sac out front.

Besides, it smells like pumpkins...

I am not going to make the St. Patrick's Day 5k but the next one coming up in April should be doable. My sister said she might come down to run it with me – that'd be cool.