Lace Up & Hit the Road!

Well I LOVE this time of year in Florida – everything seems ‘new’! The trees are turning green and starting to bloom…is there ANYTHING that smells better than blooming orange blossoms? I don’t THINK so! It’s warmer now and the days are getting longer…

My favorite thing about spring is that it is such a great time to get outside and exercise. My exercise passion of choice (other than riding the whinnying critters) is to lace up the Nike Shox, click on the iPod and hit the pavement. I run mostly in my neighborhood, sometimes at Saint Leo and occasionally on a great paved bike trail up near my mom’s house about eight miles north of campus. Running is my therapy – it keeps me (semi-) sane and as the spring is my busiest time of year, anyone who has to work, live or interact with me is grateful for this habit.

Being a very competitive person (would those of you who know me well and are reading this please stop chuckling and commenting about ‘the understatement of the century’, etc.), running is difficult for me. This is because – well I have to be honest – I am not very good. OK, let me be completely honest – I SUCK. Literally. That spring breeze you think you hear blowing through the trees is really me sucking wind. But as one of my running mentors once said – it doesn’t matter if you go a mile in 15 minutes or in 5…what matters is that you are out there. If you are out running regularly and working to improve – YOU ARE A RUNNER. I like his philosophy. It has managed to carry me through countless bouts of shin splints and a few cases of road rash. I mean, seriously…I am my mother’s daughter – neither of us would be considered graceful. Who am I to think I can run on a clear day and a level surface without incident? But we’ll get back to that.

So the other best part about spring and getting out and running regularly again is the excitement of a race. Anyone who runs in Tampa has probably run in one of the Gasparilla races. I ran my first one in 2001. I was completely hooked and resolved to run a longer race by the end of the year. For most people that would be maybe a 10K or 15K. Not me. Being an overachiever, I decided to tackle a half-marathon in early December.
It came, I ran, I bled, I finished and I cried. Yes, me. I RAN 13.1 MILES.

But then asthma and allergy issues (not to mention semi-old age) kicked my tail and I quit running regularly. This spring I resolved to get back out there…and this time, I enlisted some additional help in the motivation department. My ‘trainer’ is my nine-year old daughter. She’s usually pretty sunny about the prospect of running with me, and there is nothing more motivational than your child blowing past you on a run. I mean, I just can’t let that happen!!!! It was depressing the first time it happened – now it just fires me up. So we decided to run this year’s Gasparilla 5K together.

'The Girls' after their Gasparilla 5K finish

The training plan was put in to effect (Robert Ullrey’s Couch to 5K plan is a godsend – check it out on iTunes). We were ready…or so I thought. Now, I should tell you that Murphy’s Law was written about me and any/everything I touch. One evening I had to run without my daughter, so I took my 90 lb. black lab, Jazz (she’s a Hurricane Katrina survivor – 29 days on her own in the Lower 9th Ward, but that is another story entirely!). It was a beautiful evening and I was sucking less wind than usual, so I decided to push it a bit. BAD IDEA. Dusk had arrived and I couldn’t clearly see the pavement. More specifically, I couldn’t see the uneven patch in the pavement. Long story short. Toe of shoe met rise in pavement. Runner (me) collapses on top of unsuspecting Lab’s back. Lab determines she is being attacked by crazy person and yelps as if near death. Hilarity (not to mention a nicely twisted ankle) ensues. Did I mention that this is SIX DAYS BEFORE THE RACE? Ugh. OK, so we do the ice, elevate, etc. stuff and wrapped it. Pretty much just crossed my fingers til race day.

The scene on race day - 15,000 runners!

The big day arrived – RACE DAY. Beautiful weather – gorgeous scenery. For those who don’t know, the Gasparilla race route begins in the heart of downtown Tampa and then takes you along the top of Tampa Bay on scenic Bayshore Boulevard with its gorgeous bay views and multi-million dollar homes. My only complaint? The Bayshore resident who insists on sitting in his front yard along the route with a big ol’ honkin’ box of Dunkin Donuts. I mean, that is just CRUEL to the competitors. Of course the serious racers are moving too fast to read the letters on the box. I am NOT in that category, so I find it terribly unjust.

So the bottom line is that I was able to run on race day, although my time was horrendous. Annie had a great time and seemed to just enjoy being part of the fun. The running gods were smiling upon me as we were in such a rush to drop our bags at runner’s storage and get our bibs pinned on that we forgot to put our timing chips on our shoes, therefore our terrible times (her time would have been fine, had she not been staying behind with her old, crippled ma) were not recorded for posterity and publication in The Tampa Tribune…at least we had the photos to prove we really did finish!!!! We got our finisher’s medals and headed out to enjoy the fitness expo. We met up with several of my Saint Leo colleagues who are ‘REAL runners’. Thankfully, none of them asked me about my finish time. BLESS THEM.

But I am happy to report that I think my little one has caught the running bug! We’re both looking forward to another race later in the spring. Hopefully the wind sucking won’t be so bad by then… Stay tuned!!!!