Running my first 4-mile race
Today, I got up at 6 a.m. to go and take part in the first running race I've competed in since I was nine years old (42 years ago). It was the Charlottesville Women's 4-miler, which is a great community event here in my hometown. This year, they capped participation at 1,850 runners...
Well, I usually run three miles, every other day. That's the mainstay of my fitness routine. I figured four miles wouldn't be too much of a stretch-- and anyway, whenever I'm in New York, I usually put in just a little under four miles when I run the circuit round Prospect Park, in Brooklyn.
Today's race was a lot of fun. I had a quick twinge of claustrophobia at the beginning. (So many other runners!) After that, it was great: beautiful weather, the hills not steep at all, beautiful views of the Blue Ridge foothills, and lots of great female athletic energy all around.
I remember reading on Yvette's Taste of Africa blog about how hard they've had to work to build one small indoor sports hall there in Hargeisa (Somaliland), for women and girls to play some sports in. It had to be indoors because it wouldn't be "proper" for women to be seen playing sports outside.
What a crying shame for the women of Somaliland! I love being outdoors and being able to run outdoors. So do hundreds and hundreds of the other women here in Charlottesville. There were all shapes, sizes, and ages of females out participating today. How much better for our physical and mental wellbeing for us to be doing that rather than sitting at home watching Fox TV or whatever!
I think my time was around 40 minutes. But they'll have a listing of all our times in the local paper tomorrow. I'll let you know.
Update, Sept. 6: Our local newspaper logged my time at 40 mins. 18 secs. Personally, I think it was less, since the Finish Line clock read 40:11 as I ran under it. Oh well, better luck next time at busting that 40-minute barrier.
I came in #550 out of 1,850 runners, of whom 1,509 finished the race. In the 50-54 age-group I was 35th out of 155.
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