Friday, May 2, 2008

These Dirty Flats Never Looked So Good

Aww yeah.

I just dug up my old racing flats from the garage last night, and I am planning to use them for the 5K race I am running on Sunday. It’s been 12 years since I ran a race.

I’m excited and nervous at the same time. I’ve been running for the past month or so, and while I have been getting better I’m nowhere near the shape I was when I ran cross country in college. Back then I ran anywhere from four to eight miles a day, and I remember being physically exhausted most days. But I also remember fun times – cross country season was like one long field trip. Most days we would run on trails around the college, and some days we would take the college vans or the bus (which we called the “people mover”) out to different places, just because we were feeling bored that day. We raced all over southern California, traveling as far north as Santa Maria and as far south as San Diego. Back then I cared more about the camaraderie and the new places we visited, and my race times got lower as the season progressed, which was an added bonus.

Now I am in competition with my younger self, and am hoping that I can finish the race less than 24 minutes. That’s an average of 8 minutes a mile, which is roughly the same time I finished my first race of the season 12 years ago. I'll be wearing these old racing flats to help me remember the good ol' days and to bring me a little luck on race day.


1 comment:

Camels & Chocolate said...

How'd the shoes hold up? That would make me nervous, especially since you're supposed to change your shoes every three months -- though I feel like by the time I've finally broken the new ones in, it's time to change them again!