Tag Archives: Dare 5K

So I haven’t done so well with All DARE 5K All The Time. I suppose this was a disappointment to some, a relief to others. It’s been a disappointment to me, because I would have preferred to spend the week obsessing about the silly race rather than worrying over the various crises and catastrophes I’ve been dealing with.

Be that as it may, I went running on Thursday. I had not run Tuesday or Wednesday, which I felt sure was the wrong thing to do, but in this life we cannot do everything. We make our choices and we live with the consequences (just a little half-baked philosophy there; it is Lame Post Friday after all). I thought if I just ran Thursday and Friday I could still pull off the 5K without undue stress. And for anther thing, I was in quite the foul mood and thought I could sweat it out if I beat up my body with a good hard run. I’ve done that before. I think it’s the endorphins.

My beef concoction, which I wrote about in yesterday’s blog, was simmering in the crock pot. My fancy headband of sweat-wicking material was hanging on the wooden rack with my other fine washables. My favorite sports bras were clean. I found an XL t-shirt, because I felt the need for something extra roomy. Mr. Incredible. Perfect! A superhero on my shirt to aspire to. I was off.

It was warm. How many times this summer have I missed the days of moderate temperature only to go running in the sweltering heat? I haven’t counted, but once is enough. On the brighter side, it wasn’t super humid. On the darker side, who notices these things at temperatures in the mid to upper 80s?

My legs were immediately upset with me. Was this the result of taking two days off, of working a ten-hour day, or of the stinking heat? It doesn’t matter, I told myself, because none of these conditions would apply Saturday morning. I would run again Friday. I would get a good night’s sleep. It was extremely unlikely that the temperature would be above eighty degrees at 9:15 a.m. I thought longingly of how good Saturday morning would feel. I tried not to think about how much Thursday afternoon sucked.

I ran up the hill on Main Street. Steep. I almost had a VCD attack as I neared the top (that’s vocal chord dysfunction, a breathing problem I sometimes have). I tried to breath more deeply. I refrained from throwing myself down into some grass on the side of the road and bursting into tears. I promised myself I could cry later, as long as I finished the run.

Going downhill was not the sweet relief it sometimes is, but at least it was doable. Soon I was on German Street again. Sweat started to trickle into my eyes. Wasn’t that wicking headband supposed to help that?

I saw a teenager walking along the sidewalk a short distance ahead of me. He was dressed in black with long pants. Two fashion choices I could never make in this heat. He either had very shaggy hair or was wearing one of those knitted caps you sometimes see these days (that’s how you can tell a teenager: they wear woolen hats in the summer and flip flops in the winter) (and before any younger readers accuse me of indulging in age-based stereotypes — I KNOW not all teenagers are like that and people of any age can make uncomfortable fashion choices).

Where was I? Oh yes, crossing German Street not at the corner to avoid catching up with the teenager. It really had less to do with his woolen hat than my desire to not see how long it would take me to catch up to a pedestrian. Then the bastard crossed the street too. I turned down Lansing.

Where oh where was the shade? It’s August, for heavens’ sake. Shouldn’t the sun be a LITTLE lower in the sky? I daresay it is, if only I had some way of measuring it. My run was becoming increasingly uncomfortable and, even worse, I began to realize it was NOT helping my bad mood dissipate. Where are those damn endorphins when you need them?

I crossed a street to enjoy a little shade. Then changed directions again to avoid a couple of young joggers who seemed to be trotting along with no problems whatever. Of course I was very happy for them, but I didn’t think I could smile and wave, as I like to do with pedestrians or fellow runners.

Well, the run was a means to an end, that end being that the DARE 5K will suck less. The horrible mood left me eventually, as horrible moods do. After I showered and made my blog post, I ate some of my Beef/Eggplant Crock Pot Concoction (I just now decided that is the name of the dish, like it?). It was quite delicious. And Friday’s run did not suck. Stay tuned for my coverage of the DARE 5K!

I was thinking it would be all right to go All DARE 5K All The Time for the next week or so. I’ve used that All (whatever) All The Time a few times now, but it is a misnomer. It’s really just A Lot Of Posts About (whatever). I may have already made the observation as well. Oh, what do you want from me on a Sunday?

When Steven and I first got out of bed shortly after six this morning, I said maybe I’d wait till nine, when he went to work, to run. It would be better practice for the DARE run, since that starts at nine. Then I thought better of that decision and got on my running gear.

Steven had not heard me say I would so go running and had already poured me a cup of coffee. That was OK. I would drink coffee and then run. Many athletes like a little caffeine before a work out. I’ve even been advised to do so in a couple women’s magazines. Actually, the women’s magazines usually recommend green tea. Green tea tends to have a better reputation than coffee. Well, I like that too, but today I drank coffee.

One reason I wanted to run early was that all during the week my best time to run will be 4 p.m. I’ll get plenty of practice running in the heat. The other reason was that I wanted to run out a street that has no sidewalks and I hoped to run during the time of least possible traffic.

This was Main Street. The street has a Dead End sign on it, but a pedestrian can run or walk through (I run). I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before, but I have not run that way in a while. I hoped it would be the same. After all, if they want to make it a permanent dead end, they may entirely block it off. They hadn’t yet, though, so up I went.

The upward trend continues for quite a while. That was why I wanted to run that way. I think it is steeper and I know it is longer than the hill on the DARE run. I thought, if I can do this, I’m gold.

Of course I’m not gold. I’m not gold plated. I don’t know that I even have a cheap coat of gold spray paint. How’s that for drawing out a metaphor? At any rate, I did the best I could. After all, as I repeatedly tell myself, there is no shame in running slow. The staring at my feet trick wasn’t working well, so I looked around at houses. That worked a little better, since this isn’t a way I run very often. I always like to look at something new.

I heard a loud bark and saw a large dog in a backyard. No fence. No chain that I could see. Well, perhaps his person was right there at the back door and had just let Fido out for a business meeting. Probably Fido would stay in the back taking care of business. He came out front and barked. I told him he was a good dog and I was just leaving. He was either well trained, had invisible fencing or was just not that into chasing a middle-aged runner, because he stayed in his lawn and merely barked.

The effect of this was now I was not inclined to turn around and run back the way I came, which I had assured myself I could do if the run seemed like it was too far to keep going uphill. I looked at my watch. I hadn’t been running that long. Anyways, the hill had settled into a mild upslope. I could rock this. I could see that the end of the road was steeper. That was OK, too, I told myself. I was training for the DARE run. I needed hills.

I saw something on the road ahead that may have been a leaf with the sun hitting it, may have been shiny garbage or may have been an extra small road kill. I hate seeing road kill. I look the other way. But first I have to keep looking at it to make sure it’s road kill. After all, how silly would I feel if I suddenly realized I was averting my eyes in horror over a few leaves? Then again, who would know? Oh yeah, you guys. Tell me again why I decided to write this blog?

I was going pretty good by the time I reached the end of the road, which was now Highland, not Main. I’m not clear on when it changes. I’ll have to run it again and check. I turned onto Steuben, and it was downhill all the way. I got back to German Street much farther from my house than Main Street. That was good. I needed to keep running so the 5K wouldn’t seem too long to me.

Was that my friend Nicky with his person up ahead? I wasn’t sure, but I picked up the pace to see if I could catch up. I love to stop running briefly to pet a cute dog. They were on the other side of the street, but traffic wasn’t bad. If it was them I could easily cross. Nicky’s lady thinks it’s cool when I cross the street specifically to pet Nicky. Before I got to them, they crossed back so Nicky’s lady could talk to a lady with two shih-tzus (I think they’re shih-tzus). I got to pet all three dogs. I found out the shih-tzus were named Chunk and Chelsea.

It was really a good run, in spite of not being gold on the hill. I suppose gravity will always have its say. I’m not sure if the coffee helped or not, but it certainly tasted good, and I always like to have a cuppa with my hubby. We’ll definitely celebrate over some java after I run the DARE 5K. It’s less than a week away!