run like a girl (part 3)

Adidas King of the Road Race Results - Oct 24, 2010


So I finally did it.

Five kilometers in a just a little over 28 minutes.

And the cherry on top is that I outran thousands of men and women. I ranked 32 out of 2,578 women, and 218 out of 2,052 men. That means I outran 4,380 people.

(Don't believe people who tell you it doesn't matter what your rank is. They're just slow. Rank matters. You can only really compete with yourself, but ranking shows you the average so you can go past it.)

So, I guess it's time to advance to a more challenging distance? I can call myself a real runner now.

This is actually my third run. In the first run last March, I was just a little above the average at 36 minutes, and I outran 41% of the women. In the second run last June, I clocked in at a little over 32 minutes, ranking 119 of just 1,178 runners (mixed gender). That meant getting into the upper 10%, and for me, that was quite an improvement. It's NOT easy cutting four minutes.

Around August this year, I decided that I would cut my time by three minutes more - just enough so that I could run 5 kms in under 30 minutes. So MSP - who said that it would be hard to make me faster because I am already fast - put me on a training routine that didn't seem to work at first but finally kicked in on race day. Thanks, punk :)

And so here I am, finally, a runner. Not a jogger. R-U-N-N-E-R!

Some people ask me how I motivate myself to do this. I don't know how to answer that. I run because it's fun. That's the only real motivation. Those who lose steam in the first few tries typically run for the wrong reasons - to lose weight, to get into the hype, etc. Unless you truly find running to be fun, you can't get up early in the morning (after a night of too many drinks), tie your shoelaces, and run.

Running is a metaphor for life. It gives me the discipline to stay on course at work. It teaches me about commitment. It teaches me not to make excuses. And best of all, it proves to me that if I can think it, I can do it.

The mind really is more powerful than the body. I mean, I'm 30 but faster than most women 10 years younger. If that's not will power, could it be my British W.A.S.P. genes?

It's time to celebrate with a new running shirt...




...and a big fat chocolate cake :)