Ready, Set, Go!
My father and I ran in our city's annual 10K race yesterday, and I was happy to discover this morning that my body had recuperated nicely from yesterday's aches and pains. This was my first time running in it, and I'm just happy that I got through it and that I wasn't last (I finished in 1 hour and 22 minutes, while my father finished in about 1 hour).
Right before the start of the race I ran into my old Spanish professor, Dr. Brown. She said that she ran this race every year even though she always came in last (I know she was kidding of course because she jogs a lot more regularly than I do). I told her that she didn't have to worry about that this year because I was going to take her place as last-place-finisher. We talked some more and naturally she asked me what I'd been up to since graduation. I was happy to report that I (unlike a lot of my fellow graduates) was ACTUALLY working in my field and using my language skills. Our encounter put me in a good mood and gave me a bit of a boost for the start of the race. During the run, my mind wandered to a lot of things and naturally it ventured into the philisophical. I thought about how this race was a metaphor for life and the attainment of a goal. I thought about how in life it's important to go at your own pace and to not get caught up in comparing your progress to that of others. Just run your own race. However, that doesn't mean that you can't socialize for a while with those around you. Lots of people were holding conversation with those around them (whether they knew them or not) in order to have a sense of fellowship and comradery, and also to motivate each other not to stop and to remind them of the progress that they'd already made. Also, one of the biggest motivators were the people standing on the sidelines cheering us on and giving us mini-pep talks saying "You can do it!" or "Your doing great!". People were playing music (like the theme song from Rocky) and holding up signs, and there was even a group of belly dancers (yes, that's right. BELLY DANCERS!) on the sidelines cheering for us! It was all very surreal, like being in a dream or a movie or something!
It was a wonderful experience and I hope to do it again next year. If I'm in France, I'll just have to fly down that weekend and run the race with my Dad again. Hopefully, I can shave some mintues of my time. It's something to work towards and look forward to.
