On Saturday, Kristy and I participated, with many of her coworkers at LAFMC, in the eighth annual AIDS Run & Walk 5K.  This event, in addition to being a successful fundraiser for LAF’s AIDS Project, which helps those who suffer from both the disease and poverty, was also my first-ever race. Although I was not able to raise as much money as Kristy did with her brilliant yarn raffle, I scraped together more than I expected to thanks to my coworkers.

The morning of the race was beautiful–sunny and in the mid 70s.  We all met up at Grant Park a little after 9:00 to get ready, meeting with Kristy’s team members.  Many of them, including Kristy, had elected to walk the course, and Kristy even brought the girls (Sybil even in a velour track suit) to join in the walk.  All too soon it was time for the runners, who got a 5 minute head start, to take the starting line.  Before I knew what had happened, I was on my mark, then set, and then listening for the word “go” as something other than a spectator.

Thanks to the clever use of a timing RFID chip on my shoe, I didn’t have to worry about jockeying for position–my crossing of the start and then finish lines was silently recorded.  High tech!  Having ditched my wallet and keys with Kristy, and using her borrowed iPod shuffle, I was travelling very light around the course.  We jogged first south along Lake Shore Drive, then under and around to the Museum Campus, then along the lake shore itself next to the yachts at anchor in the harbor.  As I breezed along to the first mile, I found myself regretting that the race was already 1/3 over and wishing it were longer.

At mile two, I was still feeling pretty good, and when Boris’ Pink came on, I got overconfident (and maybe carried away by the fast music) and really started to haul ass.  By around 2 1/4mi, I was brought back to reality by a nasty cramp just below my right lung.  I stopped fretting about the shortness of the race and began wishing that it would be over soon.

I had to stop once to catch my breath (and maybe cough up a little bile, shh) after the cramp reduced my lung capacity, but other than that I ran the whole race and finished the race running, which was my only goal for the race and which I am so proud of.  As I made the final turn and could see the finish line ahead, my vision narrowed to the inflatable blue plastic novelty arch and, within it, the vertical plane that meant I could stop running.  I gasped a last gulp of air and ran flat out with everything that was left in my legs.  So intent was I on passing the line and falling down on the first patch of grass I could find that I didn’t even see my time as I passed.  I lay on my back, looking up at the sky through the yellowing leaves, trying to absorb what had just happened.

After a while, I got back up, drank some water, and retraced the course to meet Kristy and the dogs.  They were taking a break in the shade at the mileandahalf marker when I found them.  We started walking again after a little while, but Ruby suffered some sort of injury to her paw and we decided to cut the walk short for her sake.  Later on, after returning the weiners home, we met up with some of Kristy’s coworkers for a much-needed pizza lunch.

And what ever became of my time?  Well fortunately, although I wasn’t clever enough to look up at the clock, it was recorded for me by my chip.  A quick email exchange with the organizers led me here, where I learned that I had missed a registration step that would have associated my number with my name.  No worries, I can still search for my number, pictured above…

I finished the 3.2mi race in an astonishing (to me) time of 23:28.  Not only did that place me within 6 minutes of the race winner (a position I was realistic enough to never aspire to), but it also ranked me 97th out of 1,143 finishers, and 18th of 90 in the fairly competitive 25-29M group.  I am so proud!

I’m not sure yet when my next race will be, but I’m sure it will be soon.  The cramp was pretty agonizing, but I suppose added a great deal of character to the experience.  I’ll never forget the run.  And I’m so grateful to Kristy for setting me up with her team, because otherwise this probably would have been on my to-do list until after it was too late to register.  Thank you Kissy!

Before going, I’ll leave you with a playlist to run your first 5k to:

1. (Prerace) Battles – Atlas
2. Asobi Seksu – Thursday
3. Radiohead – Weird Fishes / Arpeggi
4. Ladytron – Destroy Everything You Touch
5. Boris – Pink (be careful with this one, pace yourself)
6. Asobi Seksu – New Years
7. Go! Team - Junior Kickstart
8. Asobi Seksu – Goodbye
9. M83 – Unrecorded
10. Radiohead – Reckoner
11. Ladytron – High Rise

Happy running