Sunday, December 18, 2011

Squirt's First Race

Well, it turns out that it's a good thing I took that time to finish that final paper. It landed me an A in that class! I know I haven't updated this in a while. Mostly because I continuously forget that it's here.. But also because I'm just that lazy.

At the moment, my "new and exciting" is actually "old and fine tuning." - other than soccer, which is new to me. But more on that later - I've been a runner for a few years. Ever since one of my best friend's conned me into running a 5K with her, I've been kind of addicted. I don't know how many races I've run, and I manage to fall off the running bus every once in a while and get lazy for a month or so, but I always hop back to it. I love it. I don't know why, because it's crazy. However, I have to say, runners are some of the most normal crazy people I know. Except for ultramarathoners.. I don't know what's wrong with them... Anyway, back to the point. A few months ago, I got a desperate text from my little sister who is away at college. She was FREAKING OUT because she couldn't fit into a pair of old jeans anymore. She thought she was gaining the freshman 15. When she was home, we went to the gym together all the time, and I always planned our workouts. So this is what I did...

Squirt hates running. Always has. She thinks she is incapable. Not really sure why. She can knock out a couple miles at a 10:00 pace while speed talking - usually about boys - and her heart rate is almost as low as mine. I had been looking for a race to run, just to make me actually go running some more and get in shape for the Tough Mudder I was planning on doing in Dallas. So, I went online and found a race. A race that was on my birthday. So, I told Squirt that she could give me a race for my birthday. I would tell her how far to run, what to do in the gym, and the like every day by text, and she had to run a 5K with me on my birthday. Reluctantly, but desperate to be able to fit back into those jeans, she agreed. And so it began. I became her personal trainer from 600 miles away, via text message. Eventually, I began forgetting to text her every day, but she kept running and training a little, but never actually got to three miles. When she was home for Thanksgiving Break, we went running on an indoor track. She didn't know it until we had finished our run, but she ran 3 miles without stopping. She was pretty excited. She didn't think it was possible.

Once it got closer to race time, I went online to sign up, and our race had been cancelled. The next best thing was a race the weekend prior, which just happened to be the day after she was getting home. We promptly signed up, and continued to run. Well, last weekend was the race. I had to remind her that there were things such as "packet pickup" and drug her to it in order to get our timing chips. On race day I gave her some of my old cold-gear running wear and told her what else to wear. We got to the race and I showed her how to put on the timing chip, we donned our numbers, and took off.

Now, mom had demanded pictures, but, of course, we completely forgot until the race was underway. Thank God for iPhones is all I have to say. This is one of the pictures we took for mom.
That's my sister, my glove, and half of my face. I think at this point we were about half a mile into the race. Squirt was feeling good, and we were sitting on a decent 9:40ish pace. We didn't keep this pace, but hey, we started out well. Eventually, we slowed to a 10:00 pace, cause Squirt was seriously doubting her ability to actually run 3 miles. Especially since there were hills. I think she thought I had lied to her over Thanksgiving break when I told her we ran 3 miles without stopping.. But, she pressed on, and I hung back with her until the finish. I got her to race me on the last little leg, and for the first time ever, I beat her in a sprint. I may be a better runner when it comes to distance, but when it comes to speed, the child is like an antelope over short distances. You can chase her, but all you can do to catch her is trip her... Which she's pretty susceptible to. After the race, we took another picture together, and sent that to mom to let her know we had both finished, and I hadn't killed Squirt. 

We got participant medals. Which, that was the only race I've ever been to that gave them out. I've never much liked participant awards. Mostly because, if you get an award for showing up, what's the point in doing much better? I mean, you get a race number, those are the only "participant" awards you need. The others, I think, just breed laziness. But I'll not get on a rant about that now. Squirt was pretty proud of herself for running the whole thing. She hadn't ordered a t-shirt when she registered, and was seriously regretting it. So we ran back to the car, got money, and got her a shirt. She's sported it for a couple days straight. And I'm still not sure if it's been washed... After we left the race, we went and got chocolate milk and headed to church to visit a little, still sporting our race numbers. 

Squirt was so stoked about doing it, and so proud that she finished it in decent time that she said she might be doing another one. That would be fine and dandy with me. I would love to have a race partner. I may have to get her into better shape though if I'm going to have a partner for my triathlons and Tough Mudders... And now, we're off to the gym! 

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