Tag Archives: ann arbor

6th Place: Relative Danger.

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Today was D-day for my 5K with my sister. The race started at 10:30, which meant we had plenty of morning to…get nervous! I was up until 1:00, making sure I had hot beats to jog around Ypsilanti to. Getting up at 8:30, I knew we were in trouble.

On Friday, I arrive in Michigan to 80 degree weather. By Saturday afternoon, it was 50 degrees, and rainy. And Sunday morning? Race morning? 42 degrees. Pouring rain. Dripping rain. Rain sideways. Rain upwards, downwards, blustering across the roads, flooding the race track.

As we drove to Ypsi, I realized that I was under dressed, nervous, cold, and maybe worried that I was not ready for this after all.

“Maybe they’ll cancel the race,” I said.

“I forgot my rain jacket, maybe we should turn around and go home and get it. We’ll…make it back,” I gasped.

“There’s no one here, we should go,” I chimed as we pulled up.

“I am pretty sure I can’t go.” I blurted out.

“What if I am last?” I mused.

“Then I’ll run behind you so I’m last,” Nikki said, as she basically pushed me out of the car. Before I was out of the car, my mom did manage to give me her long-sleeved shirt so I wasn’t so cold, and then Nikki and I ran into the building to find the check in. There were so many people around (although Nikki assured me this was one of the smallest races she’s run in) and we had to figure out where to get our bibs. We finally did, and managed to pin them on and find a place to stretch.

“This is the most I’ve ever stretched before a race,” Nikki said. I felt tight. I felt weak. I felt nervous. I felt cold. But alas, here we go.

We headed out to the start line with the crowd. bib on, headphones ready. Headphones on. Headphones not working. Definitely a moment of panic as I looked to Nikki, screaming in the pouring rain, “IT’S NOT WORKING. IT’S NOT WORKING.” I pushed the start button once, twice, three times…nothing. “Do you want mine?” Nikki said. And then, fourth’s a charm, and my tunes were on.

“ON YOUR MARK,” says the man, “GO.”

We were off. In my morning haste, I had also forgotten my watch. So, per usual, Nikki was boss. We were off. The rain was pouring down, and we were soaked by two minutes in. My jams were jamming, but I was running pretty slowly. But I was running. Nikki was running with me, making sure that I only walked when I really needed to, and kept alternatively singing out loud, yelling at me to run, and looking at her watch.

As we rounded mile 1, I couldn’t believe we had so much more to run. Mainly because I was freezing, wet, and already my ankles hurt. But we persevered. Or I should say, I did, as Nikki obviously could have finished no matter what. Anyways, so we got back to the beginning, as this was a lapped course, and  we had to run around it twice. There were people stationed along the route cheering for us, and I looked for my parents, who were warm in their car, and beeped at us for encouragement.

As we went around the first bend again, and I tried to trick myself into running harder, running longer, running at all. Nikki definitely kept me moving, but it was definitely hard. We hit the mile 2 marker running, and I knew that we were getting somewhere. The rain just kept coming down, and I just kept moving. Finally, about the 2.5 mile point, Nikki said, “It’s freezing, we’re cold, we’re wet, let’s go.” I picked up my pace, pushing myself as much as I could.

As we got around the final bend, I skipped through a couple jams to get myself to the end. My parents were at the finish line, cheering us on. In our matching shirts, Nikki and I finished at 41:11 minutes. It wasn’t my goal (under 40 minutes) but it was finished. I had done it. In my age group, I came in 6th place. As a sister team, we came in 4th. And Nikki and I did it together. In matching shirts. And, matching wind-burned cheeks.

Will I do it again? Well, I told Ellen I’d run one with her this summer. I definitely want to explore swimming more, and I am really enjoying going to yoga regularly. I want to work on my endurance by really focusing on 1 mile runs to run for longer. I am glad I did one, and I am excited to find a sunny LA one to do this summer.

Thanks for all your support guys! It’s made running a 5K a piece of cake.

 

 

This is why you have neighbors you like, carry NatGeo in your purse: alternatively, I love AAA

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Once, I was home for a break (summer of ’05, as I recall it) and I was driving the car to Ann Arbor to see some friends. This ended like it usually did: with my trust Volvo breaking down and having to be towed to Corky’s. My mechanic knew me not because he was that good (although he certainly was) but because between our two cars, we seemed to be constantly in his shop.

Anyways, on this particular day, there was something wrong with the car that was going to take all day to fix, and I was left stuck in the waiting area, no book in my purse (which was usually the case, but as this got heavy, and I recently has spent a semester trekking too much crap around the Netherlands and surrounding Europe, I had left my book at home.)

I ended up sitting in that waiting room, calling everyone I knew to chat, until my phone was near death, and reading copies of car magazines from the 1990s. That three hour wait turned me into a firm believer in always carrying reading material on my person.

On Tuesday, when Jeff and I went to vote, I waited outside the polling place, reading National Geographic’s latest magazine on Greenland. Frequently, I find myself random places, waiting for someone or something, reading a bit of NatGeo here, a few pages of my book club book there. Yes, I have an iPhone, but reading the news doesn’t always get me through that tap, tap, tap period of “Where are they? Are they coming? Do I need to call someone?” No, reading something real will always take me away, not caring if they are coming, hoping secretly they are not, so I can keep reading about Greenland or Buddha or the knitting group.

So this morning, when Jeff turned the key and the engine said politely, “No, thank you, I think I’d just as much like to stay off today,” I was prepared. After we were sure it wasn’t just a jump we needed (because we have a neighbor who will at the drop of a hat come out and move her car to help us out, thank you Corelyn for helping us out after I barged into your home at an unreasonable hour) Jeff called AAA. Sure, I was at home. I could have gone upstairs (which I did to check rental car prices) and put makeup on, finished drying my hair, watched a little TV, made some eggs, or generally paced the living room, waiting for the battery guy to show up.

Instead, I plopped myself on the stoop, tried to sit lady-like (“The ONE day the car breaks down, I have to be wearing a DRESS!” I exclaimed to Jeff, after trying to sit comfortably without revealing anything) and read about Greenland. “Did you know that the Inuits traveled to Greenland, migrating northeast? You always hear about people going the other way…” I exclaimed to Jeff. Well, you learn something new every day. So, after the battery guy came, fixed the terminal connection, told us we’d better replace the one we have, and we were on our way to work, I was that much more knowledgeable, and very calm. And, is there a better way to start a work day than late but educated and caffeinated? I think not.

Corelyn’s car pulled up next to ours. Trying to jump it…

The battery guy = amazing. Fixed the terminal in the time it took me to toast and cream cheese a bagel. Fed + car working = perfect day.