The big race

Some of you may remember that last year, I swore I'd never run again. And I didn't for a LONG time. Then Jeramy came home from work and said, "4Life is paying again, want to run?" Why not when it's free, right? I had fun doing it with Jeramy last year, so I said I'd do it. I then learned after I'd been signed up that Jeramy signed up for the half marathon, and I was signed up for the 5K. Not what I had planned. But I decided it probably wouldn't kill me to do it alone.
Race day came. Jeramy had us downtown at 6 - an hour and a half before my race. We took Trax up and I got off at my stop and felt a little sad about leaving my running mate on the train. I got to the start of the 5K an hour early. That's right folks, an hour early. I was seriously the first one there. I wandered around, stretched, used the porta potty, wandered some more, and then just watched people. I found myself wondering what motivates people to run. Some reasons were obvious by their shirts - running in memory of someone they lost to cancer. Those always choked me up. But the rest of us there, why were we there? I had plenty of time to reflect on this and here are a few reasons I came up with
1 - enjoy running
2 - got talked into it by someone
3 - did it to be with friends
4 - did it to be with family
5 - cool t-shirt and handouts at the end
6- and my favorite, "Is this a race? I was just sleeping on the bench over there and thought this was the breakfast line." (Not really).

And then as the race started, I got to think even more.
I thought about the adorable 6 year old girl with her ipod strapped on - who passed me - why was she doing this?
And the man that was blind who was being led by a good friend - who passed me - why was he doing this?
The man dressed like Spiderman - who passed me - why was he doing this?
And the dad pushing 2 kids in a jogging stroller - who passed me - why was he doing this?
And the Grandma wearing the t-shirt that said, "If you can read this, you just got passed by a Grandma" - who passed me - why was she doing this?
And then I started to wonder - why am I doing this???

I did it, and beat my time from last year by about a minute. Yipee.
Then I had to wait some more. I stood at the finish line waiting for Jeramy to finish the half for 1 hour, 15 minutes. In that time I got to reflect some more on people and how they finish a race. Here's what I learned, there are:
The people who sprint as hard as they can at the end
The people who keep their steady pace to the end
The people who look like they can't take another step
The people who look like they could keep going all day
The people with a terrible grimace on their face
The people with a smile on their face
The people who sweat - a lot
The people who turn bright red
The people who wear way too many layers of clothes and have them tied around their waist now
The people who could use a few more layers instead of oozing out of just a sports bra
The people who look like they are going to trip on the finish mat
The people who do trip on the finish mat
The people that keep their own time on their watches and push the button the second they cross
The people who took the time to put on their fake eyelashes before the race
The people who have family and friends there to cheer them on
The people who don't
The people that look so proud that they actually finished
The people that look like they could care less

As you can see, I had a lot of time to think during this race. Kind of a silly post, but I was amazed when I took a step back and really watched the people around me. I really wish I could have taken pictures of all these people (especially Spiderman, Grandma that passed me and eyelash lady).
So, my question is- what kind of runner are you??

(And I must add how proud I am of Jeramy. Mr. Amazing did the half in 2 hours 15 minutes WITHOUT training. The most he had ran was 7 miles 3 nights before the race. I thought it would take him at least 3 hours and was quite surprised when he came running across the finish line so early. I keep telling him that he's getting old and things are not going to always be so easy for him. I guess I was wrong. Maybe it was just the awesome pasta party we went to the night before).