Summer wouldn't be summer without a Kennedy or two running in the Meijer Festival of Races during the Cherry Festival in Traverse City. This year, it was just my solitary self that signed up, and I decided to do the 10K like last year.
Within the first week of work, I had asked for the time off. It was going to be slim pickings for staffing the clinic that day, so I felt kind of bad for asking, but my friend Jay said that he could handle it. However, as the day neared, I felt more and more guilt about leaving him almost completely alone for several hours.
It's not that the race itself takes several hours; I can run a 10K in less than 90 minutes. It's the driving into Traverse City (30 minutes), running the race (90 minutes), catching the shuttle back to my parked car (30 minutes), driving back to Interlochen (another 30 minutes), and getting showered and dressed (20 minutes if I don't dry my hair). That's a lot of time to leave Jay alone during our morning med rush.
So I hatched a plan based off something John did years ago. After 9/11, the Air Force marathon was cancelled. However, John had trained for it and still wanted to do it, so that Saturday morning, he headed out into the German countryside and ran 26.2 miles. I figured I could do the same, and it would still count as if I was running the actual race. Except there would be no cherries at the finish line.
So, the night before, I went to bed at 8:30. Yep, the sun was still out, and I could hear the campers having fun and practicing outside my bedroom window. And at 4:20 a.m., I rolled out of bed, put on my running clothes and headed out.
I decided to stay on Interlochen campus for safety's sake. It would have been nicer to head out into the woods, or run along M-37. However, being a solo woman in the backwoods of Michigan, I decided to play it safe. And I didn't even mind that the security people for Interlochen were surreptitiously following me for the first mile.
I ran the 5K. It was actually fairly easy. Then I did a combination of walking and running for miles 4 and 5, but for mile 6, my time fell apart. Not because I was falling apart, but because I got distracted by all the beauty around me as the sun came up. The sky was beautiful, the birds all started singing, the lake looked mystical, and I even surprised the mother fox who was returning to her babies under The Bowl after a night of hunting. I was taking pictures too.
I ran right up to my dorm room door, got showered, and headed out to work. Not though before I made a stop at Bud's for doughnuts and a ham panini. That alone cost me 15 minutes, and caused me to show up a bit late to work, but no worries.
And you better believe I sported my race t-shirt....over my uniform of course :-)
Within the first week of work, I had asked for the time off. It was going to be slim pickings for staffing the clinic that day, so I felt kind of bad for asking, but my friend Jay said that he could handle it. However, as the day neared, I felt more and more guilt about leaving him almost completely alone for several hours.
It's not that the race itself takes several hours; I can run a 10K in less than 90 minutes. It's the driving into Traverse City (30 minutes), running the race (90 minutes), catching the shuttle back to my parked car (30 minutes), driving back to Interlochen (another 30 minutes), and getting showered and dressed (20 minutes if I don't dry my hair). That's a lot of time to leave Jay alone during our morning med rush.
So I hatched a plan based off something John did years ago. After 9/11, the Air Force marathon was cancelled. However, John had trained for it and still wanted to do it, so that Saturday morning, he headed out into the German countryside and ran 26.2 miles. I figured I could do the same, and it would still count as if I was running the actual race. Except there would be no cherries at the finish line.
So, the night before, I went to bed at 8:30. Yep, the sun was still out, and I could hear the campers having fun and practicing outside my bedroom window. And at 4:20 a.m., I rolled out of bed, put on my running clothes and headed out.
I decided to stay on Interlochen campus for safety's sake. It would have been nicer to head out into the woods, or run along M-37. However, being a solo woman in the backwoods of Michigan, I decided to play it safe. And I didn't even mind that the security people for Interlochen were surreptitiously following me for the first mile.
I ran the 5K. It was actually fairly easy. Then I did a combination of walking and running for miles 4 and 5, but for mile 6, my time fell apart. Not because I was falling apart, but because I got distracted by all the beauty around me as the sun came up. The sky was beautiful, the birds all started singing, the lake looked mystical, and I even surprised the mother fox who was returning to her babies under The Bowl after a night of hunting. I was taking pictures too.I ran right up to my dorm room door, got showered, and headed out to work. Not though before I made a stop at Bud's for doughnuts and a ham panini. That alone cost me 15 minutes, and caused me to show up a bit late to work, but no worries.
And you better believe I sported my race t-shirt....over my uniform of course :-)
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