A Run Down Memory Lane

Along my 6 mile trek last night my mind began to wonder back to the time when my interest in running was sparked. It was some time in late 2006 at a family function hosted by my brother and sister in law. It was jokingly, at least I thought, brought up that we should sign up for the Walt Disney Half Marathon in January 2007. Sure why not, I used to be a pretty decent runner how hard could a half marathon be? I mean that's not that far. I could run that distance in my sleep. Sign me Up!!! The willing participants ended up being my sister, brother, sister in law, lovely wife, and myself.

Let the training begin, yeah right, can you say procrastination? Two weeks before the event I went to the mall and bought a pair of running shoes, or at least at the time what I thought were running shoes. I purchased said shoes based on appearance. I thought to myself, boy I'll really tear up the course wearing these babies. When in all reality they just added more weight to my already fatally obese ass. At this point of my life I was at the highest weight of my life, a mere 280 pounds give or take. I had been playing seven aside soccer for a couple of years, but those games were once a week and only lasted 50 minutes. I think I ran a total of 5 times during the two week span leading up to the half marathon. The last run I did was on the Monday before the half, and I wisely (NOT!!!) decided it would be a good idea to at least run, jog, walk, or crawl 10 miles before attempting the 13 miler on Saturday. I spent the rest of the week hobbling around trying to act like I was ready for the horror that awaited me on Saturday.

Race day I met all my relatives that were running at the start area at 4:00 A.M. My lovely and very wise wife decided against the whole waking up at 4 in the morning and running 13 miles in a circle for no apparent reason. While waiting with the masses of actual runners, approximately 16,000 of them, I began to get caught up in the moment. Not only will I finish this race I will leave all my relatives in the dust. When the race began I sped off like I was shot from a cannon. I was passing people like they were standing still. Move out of the way fellow runners I going to win this freaking race!!! I often hear about people running full marathons hitting the wall somewhere around mile 20. My wall came at an embarrassing mile 4. After mile 4 there would be no more running. I would not win the half as thought just mere minutes ago, especially since I saw the leader of the half heading back towards the finish at my mile 2, which was his mile 11. I now had settled on the fact that I just needed to try to finish.

Nine miles is a long way to walk and it also gives you time to observe things along the way. Like how most of the other runners had some type of plan of attack for the race they were running. And that an eighty year old women, a man on a crutch, several fellow fatally obese people, and a 12 year old kid all have way more stamina then I do. And that most people seem to be dressed more for the occasion of running than I am. By that I mean actual running shoes, (if I had a dollar for every asics I saw), shorts, socks, shirts and other running paraphernalia. The last thing I noticed during my agonizing stroll, at about mile 10, was that my right tit was bleeding. Who knew a cotton shirt filled with sweat rubbing on my nipples for miles would cause them to bleed?At least I gave all the spectators along the side of the road and through Epcot something to laugh about. I only saw one mother shield her kids eyes from the sight of the steady stream of blood running down my white (Why couldn't I have worn a dark one) T-shirt. I'm sure if you Google: cotton-blood- nipples-running-agony-idiot, a picture of me will show up.

I finished dammit, and that's all that mattered to me, at the time. I did my three mile walk of shame with my nips a bleeding and to add insult to injury was passed by my own sister in the last tenth of mile. My time, a blazing 3 hours and 16 minutes. I vowed I would never do this again right after finishing, however after recovering for a week I decided that I could do better and signed up for the Sarasota Half. That's a story for another time. Peace Out.


6.2 miles 10:22 pace 1082calories

mile1: 10:21
mile2: 10:15
mile3: 9:55
mile4: 10:36
mile5: 10:42
mile6: 10:23