TK: I'm going running. Do you want to go?
LG: How are far you going?
TK: A mile or so.
LG: That's not even worth going!
TK: That's the perfect distance.
(Ten minutes later.)
LG: How was your run?
TK: I despise running. Every step I wished I wasn't running.
I did that mile because LG had signed Garv and me up for a 5k (3.1 miles) and herself for a half-marathon in Santiago on Sunday, August 9. So I knew I had to do at least a little training in Okoboji. In Santiago, I was able to run a little more because there's very little humidity, but regardless a 5k was the perfect distance from me...or so I thought.
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| Pre-race |
Laurie: Where's the 10k route?
Garv: There is no 10k route. Only a 5 or 15.
Laurie: I thought I was doing a 10k. I've been running 10k's to prepare. Do you guys want to run the 15?
Garv/TK: No (and some other statements of general hesitancy)
Garv: But a 5k is hardly worth getting out of bed for. I had to wake up two hours before the 5k even started when I could have slept in, and ran a 5k on my own.
So before the race, Garv and I were strongly leaning toward the 5k, but Laurie wanted to do the 15k. Eventually, we collectively decided that we would make the final decision of what race to do when the 5k and 15k routes split.
So the race started and we're doing great. We pass the 1k mark and the moment of truth is approaching. I'm not exactly sure how the conversation went and who made the final decision, but I think that it helped that we were in the left lane and the 15k went left. If it was completely up to me, I would have done the 5k. But Laurie had trained for a longer race and Garv wanted to justify the amount of time he was spending to run a race, so we went left...
The first 5k or so went fine, but then the next 3k went up Cerro San Cristobal (St. Christopher's Hill) and we struggled a bit with that and walked a portion of it. I didn't mind walking it because I hadn't done enough training for nine miles. While we were walking, LG and Kathy zoomed past us even though they had run an 6k more than us (though they also started half an hour sooner). But shortly thereafter, we began the run again. We cruised down the hill for about 3k. Then we gutted out the last 4k. Somehow, I didn't feel too bad during that last 4k, but if I was running by myself, I no doubt would have quit running and lifted weights instead. With about 2k, I ran ahead of Garv and Laurie and finished about a minute ahead of them in seventh to last place...(because technically we were part of the 5k).
(A quick non sequitur concerning our names. When signing up for the race, you MUST enter two last names, though you only need to enter a single first name. This is VERY important in Chile because what family, school, church, neighborhood, etc one attended/is from is the basis for social, political, and/or economic status, etc. Garv, in order to totally mock this convention, uses Bachelet as his second last name. Michelle Bachelet is the current president of Chile. Before posting the blog, I sent Garv the results and here is the text he sent me: "Can't believe someone related to the presidenta ran such a slow 5k.")
I felt pretty good after the race, amazingly, considering I haven't ran more than five miles in a long time...With that said, I have no desire to run that distance again. I would do a 5k and maybe a 10k, but that's it. The best way for me to run a distance as long as a 15k is for me to have no intent to do it. Shortly after we turned left to run the 15k, I told Garv and Laurie that this was the best way to get me to do a 15k--to all of sudden do it, like what we were doing. This way, I didn't have time to dread doing it or spend time dreading the prospect of running the 15k or dreading training for a 15k or dreading having to train for a 15k....Despite the previous sentence, I'm really glad I did the 15! It was even kind of fun...
Garv: But a 5k is hardly worth getting out of bed for. I had to wake up two hours before the 5k even started when I could have slept in, and ran a 5k on my own.
So before the race, Garv and I were strongly leaning toward the 5k, but Laurie wanted to do the 15k. Eventually, we collectively decided that we would make the final decision of what race to do when the 5k and 15k routes split.
So the race started and we're doing great. We pass the 1k mark and the moment of truth is approaching. I'm not exactly sure how the conversation went and who made the final decision, but I think that it helped that we were in the left lane and the 15k went left. If it was completely up to me, I would have done the 5k. But Laurie had trained for a longer race and Garv wanted to justify the amount of time he was spending to run a race, so we went left...
The first 5k or so went fine, but then the next 3k went up Cerro San Cristobal (St. Christopher's Hill) and we struggled a bit with that and walked a portion of it. I didn't mind walking it because I hadn't done enough training for nine miles. While we were walking, LG and Kathy zoomed past us even though they had run an 6k more than us (though they also started half an hour sooner). But shortly thereafter, we began the run again. We cruised down the hill for about 3k. Then we gutted out the last 4k. Somehow, I didn't feel too bad during that last 4k, but if I was running by myself, I no doubt would have quit running and lifted weights instead. With about 2k, I ran ahead of Garv and Laurie and finished about a minute ahead of them in seventh to last place...(because technically we were part of the 5k).
(A quick non sequitur concerning our names. When signing up for the race, you MUST enter two last names, though you only need to enter a single first name. This is VERY important in Chile because what family, school, church, neighborhood, etc one attended/is from is the basis for social, political, and/or economic status, etc. Garv, in order to totally mock this convention, uses Bachelet as his second last name. Michelle Bachelet is the current president of Chile. Before posting the blog, I sent Garv the results and here is the text he sent me: "Can't believe someone related to the presidenta ran such a slow 5k.")
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| 5k Results |
I felt pretty good after the race, amazingly, considering I haven't ran more than five miles in a long time...With that said, I have no desire to run that distance again. I would do a 5k and maybe a 10k, but that's it. The best way for me to run a distance as long as a 15k is for me to have no intent to do it. Shortly after we turned left to run the 15k, I told Garv and Laurie that this was the best way to get me to do a 15k--to all of sudden do it, like what we were doing. This way, I didn't have time to dread doing it or spend time dreading the prospect of running the 15k or dreading training for a 15k or dreading having to train for a 15k....Despite the previous sentence, I'm really glad I did the 15! It was even kind of fun...
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| Post-race: Me, Kathy, Laurie, LG, Garv |
You are funny, TK.
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