The Sporting Life

It was Christmas today.
Or at least the fulfillment of a goal set around Christmas last year. My sister took her place among the other 8,999 other runners this morning at the Sporting Life 10K. It was a chilly morning, much cooler than I thought. I had 3 outfit changes before I was satisfied with a long sleeve yellow shirt, wind vest, capris and my favorite yellow hat (so fashionably coordinated, I know)

.... oh, as I was explaining to my brunch buddies post-race, is my single reminder of triumph over adversity. The hat was a reward for joining a fun run. And while the fun run was actually fun, the part that happened after the fun run was not. This was a turning point in my Chicago marathon training experience. I didn't quit, and that's what this hat represents to me....

I wasn't really "race ready" this morning. Normally I'd have my race bib pinned already, my timing chip attached to my shoelaces, and whatever else I needed all laid out. Not so. I didn't even have breakfast before I left because of the sad state of affairs that is my fridge. Not even a drop of milk, nor any sort of bread. Argh. So during the$20 cab ride to the start line I ate a mini box of Vector and washed it down with water, the whole while hoping this was going to be enough to fuel me through this race.

I spotted Yumke lining up at the 40ish-min pace marker. Wished him luck (as if he needs it) and headed further back of the line with my sister and brother-in-law. We found the fourth member of the family team, my cousin, as well as Fleetfooted Frankie (who, by the way, said this race was basically his first run since November. Ya that's right. And with zero training, he finished in about an hour) and his girlfriend.

Not that we heard the countdown, but we noticed heads starting to bob. The race was on. It took about 4 minutes to actually cross the start line, but by the time I got there, I started to feel that familiar excitement about running in a race. The wide-eyedness of my sister seeing the mass of people doing this reminded me of my first race.

I stayed beside my sister on every step. This was not about me, about me trying to achieve a personal best. It was about pacing my sister and seeing her to the finish line, to see her finish what we started, to show her that she's got the chops for a 10K race. It was about achieving her personal fitness goal.

And she did it. Ran the entire time, except at the water stations where we agreed to walk through and take fluids (we never practiced the hydrating while running drill so the walkthru was important). There were a few inclines and one legitimate hill to climb in the race (it's net downhill though) but she powered through them marvellously. (If there was one flaw about this race, I'd say it was that I forgot how to use my watch. I didn't get my splits because I just didn't remember to hit the lap button at every kilometer.)

At the 5K mark, I figured we were ahead by a couple of minutes than our usual times. One step over the 7K marker, I told her that she had officially run the furthest she had ever in her life. All she had to do now was less than 2 miles, a distance she can handily cover any day of the week. At 8K, there was a bit of a headwind and she said she was starting to fade a little bit. But she didn't stop. She got bits of encouragement from me and my cousin. She responded. My sister dug deep, kept her head high, and the three of us ploughed on. We threw the idea of sprinting at the end. My cousin and I, when we run together, have a habit of running as fast as we can. My sister never participated in that, saying that she can't. But "can't" is not a word she knows, and especially not today. I gave her easy targets to pick off during the last half kilometer. She did it with no problem. As soon as we turned the last corner, she could see the finish line.

And she sprinted. I knew she could. She even heard her name announced as she crossed the finish line, hands up in the air. I was so proud of her, I was even a little teary eyed. And, for the record: she finished at chip time 1:10:15.4; 1.1 seconds ahead of me.

Bacon always tastes so good after a race.

My sister called 2 hours ago. Guess she found that runner's high. She said the Zoo Run in October looks good.