Thoughts During 5Ks

Today I attended the Susan G. Komen run for Breast Cancer and figured that instead of my typical random ranting, I'd just write a little blip about some of my thoughts during the race.

I always go to races feeling 100% excited, but today I just wasn't having it. First off, MOTHER NATURE, KNOCK OFF THE COLD!! It's already mid-April here in wonderful Michigan and yet the weather is still fluctuating between 30 and 80 degrees. Today it was 35ish but felt like 25 with killer wind. Being from New England, I thought that I had seen the wackiest of weather, but Michigan is surely giving NE a run for its money. I guess this is the notorious "Lake Effect" that many of the Michiganders talk about. I'm still working on fully immersing myself in the culture...haven't yet gotten to the level of replacing "soda" with "pop" but I'm sure some day I'll slip up. For now, soda is soda, they're rotaries, not round-abouts, carriages are shopping carts and bubblers are much cooler than water fountains.

Anyway...

The race went pretty well considering the fact that I may or may not have some sort of head cold. I usually try to deny the presence of head colds for as long as possible. As soon as you acknowledge their presence, they magically come on full force like there's some little head-cold sentry in your lymph system sitting and waiting for the word to invade. So it was only after the race was over that I admitted that I do indeed feel "under the weather."

During the race, I went from feeling strong to cold to tired to strong again and made it my personal mission to stay ahead of as many guys as possible. It's always a mark of pride for me to beat guys who look like they're semi-in-shape since I know that biologically, men have the advantage when it comes to athletics (unless you consider birthing babies to be a sport). It's just a silly thing to keep me going during races. I finished with a time that was very close to my PR (personal record), but the wind just wasn't gonna let me have those last few seconds.

After snarfing up all of the free swag that the big 5Ks always offer, I headed back to the warmth of my car and shlepped to the gym to finish the day's requirements. In the end, I'm always running and working out to keep my past fat kid at bay. Although running has become one of my favorite things, it certainly serves a greater purpose. One of the saddest moments of my life was when I learned that you can never destroy fat cells, but can only shrink them. And conveniently, you can add more. It's just not right...

I also love the competition and comradery that 5Ks offer. There's something about running in a group that's just so...natural. As strange as it sounds, sometimes during races when I'm running amongst the mass of panting, sweating people, I imagine that I'm careening through a jungle, hunting wild animals. Like cavemen. Afterall, humans are supposed to be some of the world's greatest long distance runners. I often wonder, how would I fare back in the old days of mammoths and hunting and gathering? Besides the raging disease and inequality, raping and pillaging and whatnot...wouldn't it be cool just to go back to the past for a little bit and ride a horse around the countryside? In the book/movie Fight Club, Palahniuk toys with the idea of destroying the world's credit card companies and bringing about a new era of chaos. One of my favorite quotes comes from that movie...it paints such an eerie but tantalizing picture:

"In the world I see - you are stalking elk through the damp canyon forests around the ruins of Rockefeller Center. You'll wear leather clothes that will last you the rest of your life. You'll climb the wrist-thick kudzu vines that wrap the Sears Tower. And when you look down, you'll see tiny figures pounding corn, laying strips of venison on the empty car pool lane of some abandoned superhighway."

I often think of this quote when it snows and all of the streets are covered in a thick, white blanket. During storms, I like to trek outside at night before anyone has plowed and just walk on the street. All of the roadways look identical to the surroundings, and you can't tell that they're there at all unless you happen to look up at the stoplights. Everything is strangely muted and its just really peaceful. I always imagine that that's what it might have been like back in the days before roads and cities. It's wonderful being able to walk right in the middle of the road without any fear of cars coming and knowing that the entire area is fair game for my footprints. There are no more crosswalks in sight...the entire suburb is my playground.

During the Martian half marathon, they closed down more than 7 miles of highway to allow the thousands of runners to have a clear, wide open trail. Running on that empty highway was exhilarating. The mass of people moving along the tar was like something out of a zombie flick. Everyone just free-for-alling, moving under giant green exit signs with no cars in sight. Creepy, but awesome.

I hope some day, someone really does invent a time machine. How amazing would it be to see the U.S. before all this civilization?