Saturday, April 16, 2011

Run for Hope 5k: race report

And now for something completely different:


I won a race today!  No, not just my age group, but the whole flipping thing!  To be fair, there were only about two dozen participants, but hey, an accomplishment is still an accomplishment.

The 5k today was in memory of Gail B. Zane, "wife, mother, grandmother, teacher and friend who was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in early 1998... Gail continued to teach until the end of the schoolyear in 2006 when she was forced to retire due to the advance of her illness.  Gail passed away on November 13, 2007."  All proceeds from the race this morning will benefit the American Cancer Society.

The race was held at Cooper River.  Just before we started, a man asked me what I was hoping to run, and I told him I'd be happy if I broke 20 minutes.  It was 45 degrees and extremely windy at the start, and we had to weave our way around people gathered for a regatta, but within 10 seconds of the start, I was in the lead.  It was exhilarating to be in a race in which I was leading, no matter how small the turnout.  I never relinquished the lead, even when I rounded a corner for the homestretch and hit a wall of wind.  My unofficial time was 19:07.  The man I'd talked to at the starting line finished just under 20 minutes.

Several people asked who won, and when I told them I did, they asked me my time.

"19:07?!  I feel like that was the year I was born after running that race!"

Today I get to quote possibly the dumbest catchphrase of the decade, because today?  Today I'm like Charlie Sheen, boy.


Duh - winning!

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