First Place! Woohoo!

Last Saturday was the big day:: That’s right, the original race that Sporty Spice (a.k.a. my friend Karen) made me commit to. It is the giant 5k that has instilled the fear of God in my heart since I began this little smoking cessation journey. Again, the colossal fear may sound silly to some, but early morning chills, hard hilly terrains, spandex and the possibility of dying out in the boonies of Akron are hardly a camel light smoker’s dream.

So for the first time last week I actually ran three miles in the gym on the track. I think I may have explained this in the past. It’s 16 laps a mile, so it’s 52 laps for 3.25 miles. I keep track by holding my iPod ear-bud cord in my right hand when I’m on an odd number and in my right hand when I am on an even number.  Monotonous, but it actually motivates me. I think only 30 laps to go, 29 laps to go… etc. So Thursday, I finally ran the whole entire duration of 3 miles! It felt great! I still run super slow, but I’m still pretty proud. It’s a first for me. The only thing that frustrates me is that no matter how much of the 3.25 mile I walk or run, it still takes me on average 42 minutes. Why run, right? I’ll get there. I’ll get faster…

Or I could just kill the race on Saturday, by coming in first place!!!

38 minutes, bitches! Yeah… suck on that, cigarettes!

Okay, I know what you’re thinking: 1st place taking 38 minutes in a 5k… “Yeah, right.”

So you got me. When I registered for this race back in January, scaredy-pants registered to walk the race, not run. So yeah, I was first place in walking for my age group. Of course…

I’ll take it though. I don’t think I’ve ever come in first place for anything… (except in these categories: best pants ripping down the middle at a club story, best falling down the stairs story, best creating a typhoon of ice-tea while waiting tables story…) I could also be a contender in the following categories: the most student loans, the most job rejection letters, etc… So I might even get this little time table framed. We’re Number #1! We’re Number #1! We’re Number #1!

A great time was had by all. My friends Karen and Megan ran the entire race. Kudos to Megan as this was her first of the year! We’ve come a long way from 2008’s lawn sports (a.k.a. Flip-cup Champions). The course was a beautiful wooded track around the lake at Portage Lakes. And ooooh… and they gave us this fancy running shirt that feels like lingerie, but has ten million logos on it (I look like a NASCAR in it.) I look forward to many more morning runs in the future… hopefully correctly registered!