2012's First Race

It has been an almost perfect day today.  I ran the 10k in something like 65 minutes.  I learned that when the course description says "six challenging hills" it really means rolling hills throughout with one or two ass-kickers.  Actually I felt great until about the 5.5 mile mark.  I was at the back of the main pack, for sure.  But I wasn't even close to last.  Overall, I feel this was a successful day for me.

So, yay!

Courage

I don't remember much about her. All I know is that she was an overweight adult who had decided to join the advanced ballet class with a bunch of teenage girls. I also remember how horrible we were to her. How we whispered and laughed.

She was probably younger than I am now, but at the time she seemed so old. And oh, my God, why do they even make leotards that big?

But now I recognize her courage; the strength to show up, week after week. The love of the ballet drove her to surrender herself, not only to her own physical limitations, but to our taunting as well.

I wish I could go back in time and be nice to her. I also wish I could find her today, and tell her that across twenty-ish years and unknown miles, she has inspired me. Wherever she is, I hope she is still dancing.

That's my man.

He did the sweetest thing today. He drove me out to the end of a country road, told me to get out, reset the trip odometer, and drove off.

It was that third thing- clocking the mileage home- that really tells me I'm loved.

I didn't actually want to do a run today, but it worked out pretty well. I did 8.3 miles at a 10:41 average pace. The sun was hot, but the air was early-spring crisp. I saw a deer, a few rabbits, and a bazillion birds (and a few dogs). I even got to pee outside. If my darling hubby didn't know me so well I would have talked myself out of experiencing today's run.

So, thank you, sweetie. I love you!

I'm going to Norway!

Norway Spring Classic

It is considered THE first race of the season for my area. I wanted to go last year, but was still afraid of the 5k distance. This year I'll be doing the 10k.

One interesting note is that I can enter as a "Clydesdale". I can't spell it (and neither can Blogger's spell check), but I can enter it. Simply means I'm heavier than your typical female runner.

There I am, Mama Clydesdale.

I like clydesdales. They make me think of beer, and beer is kissing cousins of cheap wine, my drink of choice. And so, I'm happy, even though I'm basically identifying myself as a plus-size female.

The last few weeks I've been running every other day, doing whatever I feel like that particular day. Mostly tempo runs of three to five miles, with longer runs about once every eight days. I'm going to jump in to an intermediate 10k training plan for the next two weeks and then see what happens. I'm not going for gold, here. I'm just wanting to set the bar for this year. There's still plenty of time for serious training and racing.