Born to Run

I’ve taken up running. Yes, voluntarily and not towards food or away from danger. I’ve tried this a half dozen times since I was on my Jr. High track team but this is certainly the longest I’ve stuck with it — probably because I bought myself some running shoes and I’m too cheap to not use them.
I made the mistake of telling my sister a few months ago that I was planning to run the Bolder Boulder, a 10k race here in Boulder (natch) and about two weeks after I opened my big mouth, she called to say she was flying out from CA to run with me. Which led me to question whether she knew me at all. Apparently there are still people in this world who take my ridiculous claims at face value, rather than letting me drift Walter Mitty-style through life, dreaming but never achieving. Blech to them.
So I had to keep running because my sister, who actually runs for fun and is nine years younger, was coming out to make sure I ran this whole race without stopping.
When I began training, I was thinking that perhaps running would be good for me. Not only was I being healthy, I would have an hour all to myself. I figured I could meditate…pray…have some time all to myself. So far, my praying sounds like this: “Dear God, please keep me alive long enough to make it back home.” I have never been so healthy and felt so close to death.
I did it, though. I finished my race and I ran the whole freaking thing (minus 2 minutes to go to the bathroom. I was so worried I would dehydrate that I drank way too much water beforehand). It was awesome. I passed a guy in a gorilla suit, some ladies bellydancing on the sidelines and a frat house with a large sign in front that said, “You run, we drink” with a bunch of guys in the front yard who could only have gotten out of bed that early in the morning because they knew they’d be drinking beer on their lawn.
Now I just have to keep it up. I’ve gone a few times since my big race. This morning I was out running and I passed a patrolman in his car, using his radar gun to catch speeders. When I suggested he might need to use it on me, he laughed…rather rudely, I thought.