by M Sinclair Stevens. April 02, 2006.
In order to really participate in the Austin lifestyle, there are certain things you must do. Swim at Barton Springs. Go country-western dancing at the Broken Spoke. Take photos of your dogs or children surrounded by bluebonnets. Spin under the lights of the Zilker Christmas tree. Run in the Capitol 10,000.
When AJM was training for the marathon, he encouraged me to try for the Capitol 10,000 this year. Despite coming from a running family (both my father and my sister earned track scholarships to college), running is not really my idea of exercise. Granted, I don't really have an idea of exercise, but if I have to do something, I prefer exercise with smooth flowing movements. I enjoy riding a bicycle, practicing yoga, and lifting weights over running.
On the other hand, I always rise to a challenge. So this morning I joined 14,000 other people sweating it out on the muggy streets of downtown Austin.
At the start line, 4 minutes before the fun run/walk participants start. At this point, AJM was already 1/3 through his race. So I'm not sure if this qualifies as something we "did together".
All along the route bands played and the neighbors came and sat in front of their houses cheering us on. That made me feel great!
Residents lined Enfield Road waving and cheering.
I'm glad I participated. And I did finish...although I had to walk about half of it. AJM sped off with the timed racers and finished in about 46 minutes, 36 seconds. It took me an hour and 20 minutes. I'll be back next year, though. With some training I should be able to beat that.
Comments
I'm terribly impressed! It's an amazing accomplishment, and one I'm not sure I could ever do. I once trained up to where I could run 30 minutes on a treadmill (and machine-running is always easier than real-world). My goal was 30 minutes, and the first time I was able to do it ... was the last time I ever tried. Running has always been very uncomfortable for me.
I told B that you were running yesterday. He was even more impressed than I was!
Go, you! Yay!
Thanks. I didn't run the whole way...I ran off and on. I don't know if I managed 30 minutes in a row. I can do that on the elliptical trainer; so it's not a matter of heart rate. But I find running uncomfortable. In fact, what really slowed me down was that my hip is still not 100%. You, of course, have RA to deal with so don't feel bad about not running. It's great that you're doing the bicycle races with B.
You are another person who has inspired me to join in next year. I ran the race once, and it kicked my butt--and I was, like, 25. Evan and Raymond ran this year, so I will recruit Asra next year, and we will run it as a family. Mark my words, and remind me, okay??
P.S. would you please link my website to yours, maybe on my author page? Notice the link to wordsintobytes at the bottom of my homepage!
www.danafrank.myarbonne.com
I run my first race, ever. At least I didn't come in last! These people are all behind me.