Race challenge of 2020 finally met 06.05.21
I was happy to have finished my first 5K!
Folks at the Gigi's Playhouse Superhero event in Bettendorf.
They were most supportive of runners and walkers!
The June sun was shining, a light wind kept the humidity at bay and I was among a few hundred men, women and children who today (Saturday, June 5) ran a competitive 5K race on the Duck Creek bike path at Veterans Memorial Park, Bettendorf.
This was a fitness challenge I set for myself last year. When that became impossible I made it a priority this year. Regular blog readers will know that some of my main interests include staying fit and gardening. Gardening (gardensirencall.blogspot.com) takes priority this time of year.
But a user-friendly 5K, https://gigisplayhouse.org was set for June 5 and that race fit the bill. In fact, the hundreds of folks who gathered for the organization's ninth annual Superhero 5K Run were uniformly kind, nice and most supportive of newbies like me.
I'm 63 years old this year and the most I've run (in a race) is two miles. A 5K is 3.1 miles, a whole lot longer and a bigger challenge for this former 440-yard runner for Tipton's girls' track team in 1973.
Yep, all this running started in Tipton, Iowa, where I was in school from 6-12th grades and a member of one of the first girls' spring sports teams in district history. It was 1973 and 46 girls went out for track with legendary coach, Dave Fetterman. Tipton has had a long and proud track and field (and cross country) history, but Coach Fetterman was just getting started in 1973. He had me run the "440-yard open," and sometimes I was in the mile relay.
I was not too good: It took me like 72-75 seconds to run that race and I don't think I ever finished very well. (Today the fast girls run a 400-meter race in less than 50 seconds.)
But Coach Fetterman had us prepare pretty seriously for meets, and one of the workouts was to run 3 miles, to Watermelon Hill out in Cedar County, and back to the high school track. That was the first time I tried this distance and I remember to this day what a challenge it was. For me, anyway.
I was among the older folks in the crowd on Saturday. I had arrived early at the scene, registered, and then tried to jog around a bit. I was pretty close to the front of the pack when the race actually started so I rushed off with the front-runners.
I started to panic pretty quickly. This seemed like the worst ever idea! Would I collapse? Maybe I'd need paramedics to cart me away?!
I tired fast and started walking before I fell (or worse!). I relaxed some when I realized I was trying to run the first mile in 10 or 11 minutes. That's much faster then I'd practiced!
The rest of the race went more smoothly as I calmed down, took water at a water stop, and got into a rhythm. I did walk occasionally, as needed, and so did several other participants.
My final time: 40.41 minutes. That's quicker than I did it on the treadmill at home.
I am struck my how much self-confidence goes into tackling physical challenges, like a 5K. Folks I respect note my pace is fast-walking for some, and I know that. But it's what I can sustain.
Kind of like "The Tortoise and the Hare," right?
I was happy with the time but undecided about another 5K. I kind of need the stars to align precisely for this race but if they do I'll probably try it again.
Next up: The Quad-City Times Bix 7, two-mile version. We two-mile participants are going to have to get up the Brady Street Hill pretty quickly this year and that's just a fine challenge for almost anyone.
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