(Water for the) Water for the World Race

Heavy rains woke me a few times during the night and pre dawn hours. Thunder and lightening too. Woke at 6:15 am for the scheduled 5k http://www.waterfortheworld.com/ and was wondering what I should do…will the race take place in such weather? Crazy storms expected all day. I know well enough that races take place rain or shine, but in thunder and lightening? Hmmm…

After grabbing a little coffee and banana, i noticed the rain had let up and I decided to make a go for it. If the race was cancelled, fine. If not, great. I would be there and ready to go. It was held in an office park north of metro atlanta…i.e… suburbia. I wanted to do the race because of the cause….water! A ridiculous percentage of water in developing countries is not even SAFE FOR HUMAN CONTACT. All the proceeds from the race went to a church ministry who do work in Africa to help with water issues, treatment, etc.. I know a little about the massive contamination and pollution problems of water in different areas, so if my dollars can help even just a little, i am on board! I also just wanted to run a little community race.

While driving to the location and up until the very start, it had stopped raining. As we crossed the start line, heavy rain came pouring down. I’m not talking about little pebbles; I’m talking BIG BIG DROPS. To me, it was wonderful and refreshing. and Healing. I enjoy running in the rain. Especially if the weather isn’t cold. It’s like I’m kid outside playing.

Since the route was in an office park, it was very quiet (except for many cool teens volunteering and cheering) and lots of trees. The short route began with a slight uphill and then flat. At approx. 3/4 mile, we began a steady semi-steep downhill. The heavy drops fell all around us creating big puddles everywhere. At one point, I looked over at the teenage boy next to me and said, “is this great or what?” He smiled big and said, “yeah”. On the descent, I thought to myself, are they gonna make us run back UP this road…that would not be too nice….

Yep, they did. At about the 1.2 mile mark, we turned around and went up the hill. Once we made it to the top, the remainder of the route was slightly rolling to the finish line. I didn’t wear my watch. I didn’t wear my iPOD. I wanted to be more present. Funny how it went by soooo fast.

I crossed the finish line, happy. Turns out I finished 3rd in my age group (remember, the race was small. LOL) Pretty neat. Got a nice plaque. The neat part about watching the award ceremony was seeing the faces of the kids who won in their age groups. I loved seeing their excitement, pride, and even shyness.

I might have had similar expressions on my face.

A great way to start my Saturday. Thanks to all involved in putting the race together, especially all the volunteers who had to be their early in the crazy rain.

Do what you can to make clean water possible for all. Cheers!

5k Time = 27:12 (not my fastest, but it wasn’t about that today)
Pace: 8:45/mile
Overall = 41st out of 224 total runners.

back to the battlefield…(sort of)

As you have seen from recent posts, I have not written about running. I’ve been taking a little break since the marathon in October. It’s been good, but I don’t have anything more in particular to say about it. Just been running a little. Like I’m sure many of you, I am thinking ahead to 2010 and what races I want to do battle with…so many to choose from. Isn’t THAT great. I’m also thinking of raising money for charity again. Last time I did it was in 2005 for the SF Marathon. I raised over $5000 so I was really pleased and enormously grateful to all who donated. The donations went to Children’s Hospital in Oakland, CA. I have a special interest in that place. Nevertheless, having said that, I am wondering what charity, what cause, do I want to put my energy and legs into? Do I chose the same one? As opposed to how great it is that there are sooo many races to choose from, it’s quite daunting to try and decide what CAUSE  to get behind. There are so many in need; so many causes that are all more worthy than I can even begin to comprehend. I’m not even sure I WILL raise money again, but all of this is certainly on my radar.  I will definitely post about it so stay tuned.

So, back to the battlefield. Kennesaw Battlefield, that is. I texted Jeff on Friday asking if he wanted to meet. We’ve been trying to meet up and just haven’t connected lately. We actually hadn’t seen each other since about September. Hmmm.. I wonder if he was avoiding me cause he KNEW that HILL pain would be involved… hee hee. He texted me back asking when and where. “10am. Kennesaw. rain or shine.”

It had been pretty ugly and cold out so who knew what we were in for on the trails. Actually, it rained all day on Friday but the trails were not as wet/muddy as I thought they would be. I purposely DID NOT wear my new Adidas Trail shoes. I JUST couldn’t bear to get them all muddy just yet. So. I had my old ones on.

Found Jeff at 10am right on the nose. Isn’t it wonderful when you can count on people??!! Love that about Jeff! Since we both have not been running much, we decided to just go 5 miles. And let me tell you, 5 miles at Kennesaw is pretty damn good. All hilly! And, oh…the hills make you remember quickly. I hadn’t been out there for about a year…not since I had done my training for the Chattanooga 50k Trail race. I commented to Jeff that it looked so different out there at this time of year….the trails in their winter dress..barren, still and almost an eerie quiet. We didn’t talk much as we plotted one foot in front of the other, up and down and up and down. How comforting it was to be there with my friend, running side by side in the cold of the Battlefield…each of us with our own quiet thoughts and experience, but still, together.

Soon enough, we were back at the start. I don’t know the mileage cause I was not wearing my Garmin, but time was 58:36…so I’m thinking 5.5-6 miles

I said to Jeff; “you know you’re a runner when you come and run tough miles and you’re not training for anything.”

Jeff: “oh, we’re training for something. we just don’t know what yet.”

Ahhh…so true!

Here we are post run. Thanks, buddy!