Running

The first week of September is over and with that, summer is pretty much over as well.

The weather is getting cooler, at least at night. I ran a 3 mile course in the neighborhood this morning and it sure felt like it was still summer. I am planning on running a Race for the Cure 5K at the end of the month. I haven't ran competitively since college and I've quite forgotten how to do it. All I can remember from my "has-been" days is that I wanted to get out front and stay there. But I was in much better physical condition at age 18. At least I don't have to compete against the 18 year olds. I am officially in the 30-34 age group. and the first three in each age group get a prize. The first female overall gets a watch. I think trying to get the watch is a lofty goal, but I'd be okay with placing in the top three in my division.

I asked Lewis if he would go watch me run, but he has a softball tournament all day. And then it struck me that I don't think I have ever run a race where I didn't have at least one person cheering for me. Even at the faraway races in college, there was the coach. So I called my mom, told her the plan, and she said she'd come see me run. It'll be like old times. "Breathe, Elisa, breathe!".

It's just a 5K. 3.1 miles. I run that or more during my running workouts. The distance does not intimidate me. It's more like the competitiveness that scares me. I have no idea what other people of what abilities will be entered. In HS and college, I didn't like running. It was the winning I liked. I also liked the fact that it was completely up to me to be better. There was no one else to put the blame on if I lost, and no one else to take the credit if I won. It took me a long time to adjust to the fact that when I worked out, it was because it was GOOD for me. (And I'm still working on it!) Used to be, I worked out because I was training to be better and win. If I ran a mile in 6:40, I wasn't satisifed unless the next day I ran it in 6:39 or less. The next day had better be even faster. Ridiculous, I know, but it seems like I am in a constant battle to be even better than I was the day before. At some point though, you hit a plateau and you can't go any lower. Kinda like with weight.

I think back to my personal best from HS, and can't imagine that I could run that fast. But then again, I certainly don't have the blissful ignorance or the joints that I had 13 years ago. I also can't believe I didn't run with music. I have to have my iPod when I run now. I hope they let me use it in the race.