Santa's Run

Today, I ran in my first official "race", the 3.5 mile Santa's Run in Glastonbury, amid flurries, 32-degree breezes, worthy of stinging my ears and hands, and 1200 other runners, some of whom were dressed up in holiday garb, including more than a few Santas.

I finished at 29:50-something (only about 12 minutes off the winning time!). I was sprinting toward the finish line and didn't look up at the clock to see the exact time I finished. But I was pretty satisfied with my performance, given that I hadn't ever run in a race before, and on Thursday, during a practice run, finished the course in 31:34. I set a goal for myself of finishing under 30 minutes, and achieved it, so that was cool.

Running is hard. Especially running beyond a mile, for me. The first mile, which I completed in 7:46, wasn't bad. The second mile was tough, as the course meandered through some neighborhoods with slight hills that weren't as gentle as they appeared. I finished the first two miles in 16:30. The last mile and a half were, interestingly, not as difficult as the second mile, or so it seemed. I attempted to sprint for short stretches, as someone suggested, and perhaps that helped my pace, I don't know. Every time I sprinted I felt like I went a lot slower than I had run before the sprint.

Many, many people beat me, which of course I knew would happen. But many people ran faster than me who I wouldn't have thought would beat me. You can't base someone's running time on appearance, but there were people one a half times my age or older who passed me without great effort. I suppose they practice. You have to give older runners a lot of credit, regardless of where they finish.

I now know that I should have worn gloves on such a cold day. And a better hat - not a baseball cap. My mp3 player was missing an earplug so that wasn't ideal. I had to hold the thing in my hand. My shoelaces came untied once, so I had to stop and tie my sneakers, which took off about 10 seconds, possibly. I probably should, if I ever run again, invest in running shoes and not run in my cross trainers.

I did make a special playlist on my mp3 specifically for the run. Strangely, the songs repeated themselves instead of moving to the next one, which could have been the mp3 player resetting because of the bouncing or perhaps I hit the back button without knowing it. For the record, though, here's the music mix I made for the run. As always a lot of pride went into making this.

Times Like These - Foo Fighters
Training Montage - Rocky IV
Superman Kryptonite - Three Doors Down
I am the Highway - Audioslave
Dreams - Van Halen
Right Now - Van Halen
Baba O'Riley = The Who
Learn to Fly - Foo Fighters
Burning Heart = Survivor
Streetcorner Symphpony - Rob Thomas
Everlong - Foo Fighters
Everybody's Changing - Keane
You're the Best (Around) - from the Karate Kid
Supernatural Superserious - REM
Tom Sawyer - Rush
515o - Van Halen
Mean Street - Van Halen

Running, I can tell, can be addictive, particularly if you get caught up in wanting to beat your previous time, or placing in the top 10 in your age category. It's interesting, in that obviously people have physical limitations, and here are thousands of people, millions nationally, who push their limits, despite headaches, sore feet, a dry mouth, cramps in their ribs, sore legs, and general exhaustion. That, I think, is what's cool about it. Bunches of people showing up to do something that they know won't be easy, yet they do it, anyway.

I hope to run more next year, in a few 5k type events, anyway. Although I can't see myself running for serious competition, I liked the scene of the race and the feeling of accomplishment I had when I finished it.