I Run for Fun

When I was feeling a bit down last Thursday, I jumped online in search of something to pep me up and get me into the Santa Cruz groove.


And I came up with this:

The Fifth Annual Marine Discovery Run at Long Marine Lab

Hmmm, I thought. That sounds interesting. Especially because it's a fundraiser for the Long Marine Lab, which happens to be on the same site as the NMFS lab where I'm working, and the course runs down our driveway and along the stunning West Cliff Drive, overlooking Monterey Bay.

The only snag - tiny hitch, really - was that I hadn't done a fun run since the 2009 Point to Pinnacle, which was my personal "up yours" to my arthritis diagnosis, right before it and my rheumatologist curtailed my running career. And I really miss running.

But since arriving in Santa Cruz, being a mere block from the beach, I thought I'd get amongst the jogging action on East Cliff Drive and test out the old bod. Three x 4km runs and some vague sacroiliatic protesting later, and I was sitting at my desk contemplating a 10km race, with 2 hours before the close of online registrations to decide my fate for the upcoming Sunday morning. I was tempted, but I was tentative.

Ultimately, however, I'm a gambling woman at heart, so in the end I was all, "What's the worst that can happen?" and hit the Enter key.

In the words of the immortal C3PO,

"I'm afraid our furry friend may have gone and done something rather rash".

The three 4km runs notwithstanding, the balance of my training was:

- climbing 50ft walls and negotiating with my quads on Thursday

- drinking cocktails and playing Band Hero on Friday

- drinking beer-sake and watching the late session of "Thor" on Saturday.

Stellar.

Nonetheless, 7:30am on Sunday saw me hauling my 5km-over-optimal-running-weight carcass into the baby truck and fanging it down to work.

The entry field was surprisingly small. Used to running anonymously in a crowd of hundreds, or thousands for the Burnie 10s, I found it fun to wander around and chat to friendly fellow entrants. The organisers couldn't have been more helpful and willingly agreed to look after my car keys and my jumper while I ran.  

I had to get real with regard to expectations. Despite my PB of 52:30, I told myself I had to be happy with anything around an hour. Beer-sake and cocktails are disloyal friends when it comes to race preparation.

It had been ominous and raining as I'd set off from Pleasure Point, but by the start time it was all sunshine and light.

The start of the race was called during my third wait for the portaloos, so my bladder had to shelve its nervous overdrive and my legs had to do their thing.

And for whatever reason, it was much easier than expected. That may have had something to do with the beauty and tranquility of running alongside the ocean, with the sea otters playing in the kelp, and the clean, crisp sea air.

In fact, I absolutely caned the first 5km in 25 minutes, but a slight headwind and my lack of fitness kicked in on the way back (I had to bribe my thighs with promises of hot tubs and saunas). In the end, I was delighted to cross the line in 57:58. You can see my thumbs-up, doin'-it-for-the-Aussies, stylin' finish at:

http://www.backprint.com/view_user_event.asp?PID=bp%18 7EA&EVENTID=78834&BIB=24&S=230&PWD= 

YAY!


And just to prove I didn't die, here I am afterwards.

 A kind lady took my photo in front of Long's blue whale skeleton. The MC for the day was a local radio announcer. She had a great voice and in true American style, was very effusive and encouraging as each runner completed the course - I could hear her as I came off West Cliff Drive, 2km out from the finish.

And now for a couple of Things I Have Noticed About U.S. Versus Australian Fun Runs:


- Although the run was advertised as a 10km run, the race markers were in miles. This meant that the out-and-back markers were not symmetrical (e.g. at home, the 9km marker is at the same point as the 1km marker). Running that extra 0.6km between (less) markers was challenging, but also relaxing in the sense that you knew you weren't going to encounter many markers, so you stopped worrying so much about hitting them and just ran your own race. They also provided me with much happy mental distraction as I worked out the conversions to kilometres in my head as I ran.


- On an out-and-back course at home, we typically applaud the race leaders as they pass us before we hit the turnaround. This time I was clapping by myself, and, while some competitors were appreciative, most just gave me odd looks, or ignored me.


- The race results are available as they happen. There's no waiting until Tuesday for your time to appear in the newspaper.


I helped pin up the results. I finished 24th overall.

Then I collected my free T-shirt (the U.S. is the land of free T-shirts for sporting events) had a free 10 minutes massage (my body was delighted - take that, arthritis!) and helped myself to free oranges and strawberries, and goodies from the sponsors. The winners were having their picture taken with dolphins, and you could tour the Seymour Marine Discovery Centre for free, but I called it a morning and went home to take care of my joints.

Mission Accomplished: I smiled from start to finish, and with my sub-hour finish, and getting amongst it amidst the beauty of Santa Cruz was just what the doctor (though not necessarily the rheumatologist) ordered.