Big House Big Heart

This morning I ran a 5K event - the Big House Big Heart - which finishes through the tunnel and across the 50-yard-line of Michigan Stadium (the "Big House"), which is the largest football stadium in existence. It was a very nice morning for running - cool (upper forties) and cloudy (while sun is picturesque, it also can create vision problems). I knew going in that my time would not be as good as I would like, due to two factors: (1) a dismal lack of good training in recent weeks and days due to injury and illness; and (2) a very crowded field. I was told there were close to 10,000 registrants, and though I'm sure many of these ran in the 10K or 1-mile events, I'm sure that we had well over 5,000 runners in the 5K. The difference between my unofficial time on my watch, and the digital clock at the finish line, was about 4 minutes - I'll learn my computer chip time later, online, but I'm glad that system of timing was available, as I was stuck WAY back at the starting line, and had to walk several minutes to reach the official starting line, and even then could only jog very slowly. Not until we reached the 1-mile sign could I begin to run very freely, and even then it was crowded. In 2007 (the first year of the Big House Big Heart) I ran it in 32:59; last year I did it in 30:30; and this year, under the circumstances, I consider it a "moral victory" to have finished (by my timing) in 30:38. And it was especially nice that, running as part of Team Hope Clinic from our church, supporting the Ypsilanti non-profit ministry by that name, we met first at 8:00 beneath the Team Hope Clinic tent near the start for an informal devotional service which was very nice. All in all, a very positive experience, and one I hope to be able to repeat for many years to come.