![\"\"](\"https:\/\/graceuncensored.com\/WordPress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/n16.jpg\" "\\"n16\\"")
<\/p>\nyesterday morning, at the crack of nine a.m., kevin and i started running the TURKEY TROT thanksgiving race at washington park.<\/p>\n
maybe it wasn’t really a race, just a run that benefited…something. \u00a0people without health insurance, maybe?<\/p>\n
we actually started running at 9:06; i think this was the first year for the trot, so it was just slightly unorganized and hard to get everybody registered. \u00a0by the time we got up to the front of the line to get our numbers, they had run out of tiny safety pins to pin our numbers on, but then, luckily, as the woman searched in vain for our names on the registration list, somebody brought up a big gob of pins so we didn’t have to use masking tape, which probably woulda fallen off.<\/p>\n
i’m not entirely sure if this would have mattered, because even though there was a big timer thing at the finish line, nobody was really paying so much attention to the finishers.<\/p>\n
but anyway…<\/p>\n
my friend erica had told us about the run at least a month ago, and kevin thought it’d be a good idea, and i was excited because kevin hasn’t been running again for very long, because of his knee injury and pain because of that. \u00a0we haven’t been running together much, and i can’t remember the last time we did an official kind of run.<\/p>\n
but then it got really, really cold outside these last few weeks, and i started having doubts about this run. \u00a0on wednesday i said “are we still doing the run?” and kevin said “yeah!” so i knew i was doomed.<\/p>\n
but then he said we wouldn’t have to do it if i thought i’d be too cold, but i said, no, it’ll be fine.<\/p>\n
and then i plotted my layers of clothing. \u00a0running pants, plus big sweats over them, a long-sleeved sports shirt, a long-sleeved t-shirt over that, my plug-in jacket, a scarf, mittens, hat.<\/p>\n
the wind chill was somewhere in the teens yesterday morning. \u00a0at least it was sunny.<\/p>\n
i got out of the car and was VERY VERY COLD. \u00a0i went into the women’s bathroom and it was toasty and nice in there, but i knew i couldn’t stay in there forever.<\/p>\n
there were quite a few people doing the run, and we all gathered around at the starting line, and a horn went off and we started, and we were all so jammed together and i started thinking about how i like the solitude of running and this big mass of people was kind of awful plus i was SO VERY COLD.<\/p>\n
but then, after a very short while, people passed us, and then more people passed us, and then there weren’t many people nearby so it was better. \u00a0i started to be not quite so freezing…but then my shoe came untied.<\/p>\n
damn. \u00a0i remembered that this extra pair of sweats caused the shoe to become untied because it brushed against the shoestring.<\/p>\n
i told kevin and erica to keep going, i’d catch up. \u00a0so i stopped and double-tied my laces, and then ran past a bunch of people to catch up, and that certainly got my heart rate going, plus i wasn’t nearly as cold.<\/p>\n
but then it was a little harder, running after sprinting a while.<\/p>\n
but it was ok, and i looked back and most of the people straggling along behind us were the people pushing strollers, and people with dogs, and the walking people.<\/p>\n
at least we were going faster than the walkers.<\/p>\n
i passed my weightlifting teacher, cheryl, and i remembered that last thanksgiving she talked about doing some 5K up in a chicago suburb and she never, ever runs normally, so it was hard for her and she was really sore the next day.<\/p>\n
and then my shoelace came untied again, and i was annoyed, but i stopped and tied it and caught up one more time.<\/p>\n
and then i was very tired, plus i never run on hills anymore and washington park is full of hills. \u00a0i slowed my already very slow pace, and then somebody PUSHING A WHEELCHAIR passed us.<\/p>\n
and i realized that i am a very, very, VERY slow runner.<\/p>\n
i mean, i’ve always known i’m a slow runner, but i’ve been running for many years, but almost always alone. \u00a0i guess i’m not really even a runner, i’m a jogger. \u00a0a slow jogger. \u00a0i probably jog about as fast as a fast walker, or a pretty fast walker.<\/p>\n
at this point only the people walking were behind us, and one person who had a really big dog and also a small child. \u00a0somehow we managed to stay ahead of them.<\/p>\n
and when i say “we,” i really mean me, because, for one thing, erica ran on ahead finally, and kevin stayed by my side but could have done the run in a much faster time.<\/p>\n
and then, the damn shoelace came untied for the third time, and i wasn’t gonna tie it, but i was shuffling up a hill and was afraid my shoe would actually fall off, so i finally stopped.<\/p>\n
this time i pulled my outer sweats up over my knees and rolled them up so they cause any more untying.<\/p>\n
and this time i was much too tired to catch up with kevin, so i shuffled along by myself, as the walkers and the strollers and everybody passed me by. \u00a0cheryl was far ahead of me, chugging right along, even though she never, ever runs.<\/p>\n
and then, because he’s an incredibly sweet and loving man, kevin stopped and waited for me.<\/p>\n
as we shuffled towards the finish line, this big guy was standing by the side of the road yelling at people. \u00a0COME ON, YOU CAN DO IT! \u00a0YOU’RE ALMOST THERE! \u00a0YOU CAN MAKE IT! \u00a0COME OOOONNNNNN!<\/p>\n
i told kevin that if that guy yelled any of that to me i was gonna run up and kick him in the balls.<\/p>\n
maybe he heard me, because he didn’t say anything as we laboriously made our way to the end of the route.<\/p>\n
we finished at 9:42, i believe, but now i can’t even remember for sure. \u00a0a really, really slow pace, that’s all i know.<\/p>\n
i’m thankful that i did get thoroughly warm, i’ll have to say.<\/p>\n
i was really happy when it was over.<\/p>\n
i’m gonna buy some new shoestrings really soon.<\/p>\n
i felt slightly better about all the calories i consumed later in the day.<\/p>\n
and that was the highlight of our thanksgiving.<\/p>\n
maybe i’ll jog in the park sometimes, because now, who knows what official runs might be lurking in our future.<\/p>\n
here’s one funny photo of chester for you.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
ok then,<\/p>\n
mrs. h.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
yesterday morning, at the crack of nine a.m., kevin and i started running the TURKEY TROT thanksgiving race at washington park. maybe it wasn’t really a race, just a run that benefited…something. \u00a0people without health insurance, maybe? we actually started running at 9:06; i think this was the first year for the trot, so it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[96,39],"class_list":["post-9683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-chester","tag-kevin"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6JLYy-2wb","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/graceuncensored.com\/WordPress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/graceuncensored.com\/WordPress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/graceuncensored.com\/WordPress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graceuncensored.com\/WordPress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graceuncensored.com\/WordPress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/graceuncensored.com\/WordPress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9683\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/graceuncensored.com\/WordPress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graceuncensored.com\/WordPress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graceuncensored.com\/WordPress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}