The Tortoise and the Hare

The tortoise and the hare - a story about friendship…and running. 

At the beginning of the year, the tortoise set a goal to run a 5K.  It was a crazy, ridiculous goal for the tortoise and was met by eye-rolls by many in the tortoise’s family.  The tortoise didn’t run.  Aside from climbing a couple flights of stairs every once in a while, the tortoise was content to curl up in her shell, watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (because all tortoises dream of being ninjas), and take lots of naps.  But the tortoise set the goal anyway, figuring, well, if it didn’t happen, oh well - at least she thought about doing it.  That’s half the battle right there. 

January turned to February and February turned to March and the tortoise was still firmly ensconced in her shell.  Then, sometime in March, the tortoise's friend, the hare, hopped over for a visit and told her that she wanted to run a 5K too.  So, they joined a running club together and you kinda know the story:  the hare turned into Steve Prefontaine when she tied up her laces; the tortoise turned into turtle soup.  But they had 12 weeks to train and prepare for their big 5K.

For 12 Thursdays from April to July, there was a bit of a routine between the tortoise and the hare.  Usually, they would send emails to each other in the morning – were they really going to running club that night?  If it looked like rain - at 7:45 in the morning - there were silent prayers (at least by the tortoise) that running club would be canceled.  More often than not though, the tortoise and the hare sucked it up and joined all the other tortoises and hares to train.

Today was the big race.  This isn’t a fairy-tale so I can’t tell you that the tortoise magically turned into a hare, ran the whole 5K, finished first in her age group, and won a $25 gift certificate to the local running store.  No, that didn’t happen.  But, the tortoise did run farther than she’s ever run before.  And, with the help of a very good friend (now known as the Rogue Runner) and the hare – who finished a good ten minutes before her and was on the sidelines cheering her on towards the finish line – the tortoise ran sprinted across the finish line and accomplished one of her goals for 2011. 

To the hare --

We did it!  Congrats on a great first race and thanks for helping me accomplish Goal #5!  I’ll call you when I’m ready for the 10K!

                                                                                    -- From the tortoise    
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In case you're interested in the results (and who isn't?!) - I finished with a time of 39:18.75 - that's several seconds less than 40 minutes!  I was 297th out of 397 runners.  Am I disappointed?  Nope...being the glass half-full gal I'm trying to be these days - I think that's pretty darn good and it means that I was 1st out of the last 100 runners.  Not bad.  Not bad at all.  

Here are some pictures.  The action shots are courtesy of my friend/personal race photographer/the Rogue Runner, Miriam.

#179 - Ready to race!

I'm in the white and black running behind
(not next to) the lady in pink and blue.

The hare is actually way far up in front in the teal.
Can you see her?  Me neither!

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a running tortoise!