As I mentioned on Friday, I had cooked up a scheme to win a medal in a yearly race that I have not trained for nor had any real interest in prior to learning of it on Friday. And so yesterday, I got up at 5am, showered, and walked up town to register for the 5k America Walk at Good Neighbor Day.
I was understandably groggy in the dim light of 5am, and didn't make it out of the house until 5:45. The park where the race starts is in teh middle of town, so I really had to move to get there. I took my GPS with me and kept track of my pace, which was about 4.0 miles per hour. I arrived at the registration tent at 6am.
I filled out my form and paid my registration fee. The lady gave me a number and pointed me toward the table with boxes of safety pins. She didn't give me a t-shirt, so I supposed I didn't make the first 150 registrants. Bummer. I figured if by some chance my scheme didn't pan out, at least I'd have a t-shirt.
The scheme was this: Last year, only one guy entered the race in my age group. At 39, he would be entering the next age group this year even if he did return. Also to my advantage, nobody had enetered in the 20-29 age group last year, so nobody would be moving up. Basically, all I'd have to do is show up, walk, and accept my prize. Piece of cake, right? So I collected my number, and instead of standing around for two hours waiting for the race to start, I walked back home. I ate a plum and a piece of bread. Getting up early always messes with my appetite.
I walked back to the park later to be present for the opening ceremonies, something I had never done on Good Neighbor Day. Something I had told Berta later on was that there was an interesting sense of comraderie among the people. Everyone was there to either administer the races or participate in them. It's strange to have such a large group of people all together with the same agenda, without any ridicule between athletes. Foot racing is interestingly personal. Even the people who were "getting in the zone" were friendly. It's nice to be included, even if my motives weren't really pure.
There was a bunch of free stuff for the racers - Good Neighbor Day cups and t-shirts, programs, and coupon books. Unfortunately, I didn't have anywhere to put any of that stuff before the race would start, so I had to leave it.
A couple of minutes after the runners took off, the walkers took to the street. I should probably explain a little about this race before you think I'm putting a lot of credence in nothing.
First off, the race is 5km - 3.10 miles - around Downingtown using the same course that the runners use. The track is more-or-less flat, with only a couple of small hills. The walking race is interesting because you might think, "ooh, walk - real challenge there," but here's the thing that I had computed on a calculator while I was eating my plum: In order to finish the race in an hour, you must keep an average walking pace of 3.1 miles per hour. 3.1 miles per hour is a pretty brisk pace, and an hour is a long time for the walking race to take. To finish the race in 53 minutes, the time of last year's winner in my age range, you have to average 3.5 miles per hour. Average. So when you slow down going up the hill, you've got to make that up by going faster at some point in the course.
3.5 miles per hour is pretty fast for walking. It's not power-walking speed, but it's not a laid-back pace. My point is that this is an actual, honest-to-goodness race.
So off we went. Things were fine in the beginning, of course, but got worse as the race progressed. After the half way point, my feet and ankles started to feel numb. I could feel the burn in my shins from moving in a walking stride at such speed.
Also at the half-way point, the 10k and 15k racers started to lap us walkers. They were really moving. I think the fastest 5k running time was 16 minutes. That's an average of 11 miles per hour. I might not have been able to do that, but it might have been better to run the 5k than to walk it. Anyway, at least a hundred people passed me before I finally made my way back around to the finish line.
I finished the race with a time of 51 minutes 34 seconds. 110th place overall and second in my age group. Some dude walked across the line 20 seconds before I did and stole my gold medal. Oh, well. I'm pretty happy with second place, considering that I did not prepare for the race at all.
I wandered around for a few hours waiting for race results. By the time they finally had the award ceremony and I got my medal, Berta and the kids had arrived at the park with Mom and Nana to look over the crafts they set up in the park. It was nice that they were there at the end, even if they didn't walk along with me. Hey, it's only 3 miles, right?
Today, my feet keep telling me that 3 miles is too far for them. They want me to never do anything like that again. In fact, they're reluctant to do any work for the next few days until they've had a chance to decide if they're even going to continue on employment at the bottom of my legs. My legs aren't actually too pleased with me either.
Hopefully this all wears off by tomorrow, because I'd hate to continue walking funny on stage during my scene rehersal at school. That'll teach me to participate. Still, what at first started as a lark turned into an actual effort that I think is worthy of the small award, and a neat story besides. I'm going to go polish my medal now.
