Snow Run 2008

My first run of 2008 was an eye opening experience, a brutal reminder and reality check of how far out of shape I've gotten since my little "event" of a heart attack, surgery and setback of last August.

I decided to walk to Lincoln Park and jump into the annual New Year's Day 5k race. I debated much of New Year's Eve and early this morning about doing this run because of the roughly six inch blanket of snow that included some ice and a blanket of powdery new snow that fell last night and earlier this morning.

The race didn't start until 11:00 a.m. so I had plenty of time to go through my usual mental gyrations of trying to talk myself out of venturing into the 20 degree temperature and 10 to 20 mph winds from my warm home here near the Lakefront.

But, I bundled up and headed out the door, knowing that if I got into trouble there was always the walking route I could take, and frankly I just wanted to start 2008 by being around some runners and get away from some of this god-awful depression and self-absorption. That mission was accomplished and as a bonus I ran into 4 or 5 of my old running friends, who were glad to see me. I sure was glad to see them.

When I started running I knew within about 100 yards that my mind had again deceived me and instead of running what for me would be an average pace I was going to be going real slow with a sole goal of finishing the thing without slipping and falling down. What amazed me, other than the sheer beauty of the morning, was the fact that there were some other people running just as slow as I, so I had some company despite my snail's pace.

I got through the darned thing but it took me 40 minutes, which is the slowest 5k I've ever ran, including my first ever attempt at the race so I have a lot of work to do and what's on my mind now is the concern that there is the possibility that no matter how hard I work, I may have lost the capacity to even run a somewhat respectable steady pace. In other words, it was really hard and another humbling experience.

I was on my feet about three hours total including the walking around and jawing time before the race and the walk home afterwards. Once upon a time that amount of time walking and running would have been a bit of a warmup for me but today's race pretty much wiped me out, and I don't like it one bit. But I think I better get used to it, accept it and work on being grateful that I can be somewhat mobile and take care of my business.

I will say that the blanket of snow, the piles of snow on the barren trees and the jovial and friendly atmosphere helped soothe my wounded pride. So I'll try to take it a day at a time, a run at a time and hope for the best in 2008 and try to accept whatever life deals me.