Shamrocks and Shenanigans

Today I ran my first 5K race since December 5 - the "Shamrocks and Shenanigans," held in downtown Ann Arbor and sponsored by our local shoe store, Running Fit. (I owe a lot of gratitude to my friend Steve Angerman, who runs the store, because after I discovered a few days ago that the race was already full and not registering any more people, he told me he could still get me in). My time of 33:42 was not good (my 5K personal record is 29:14), and left me with a sluggish pace of 10:51 per mile. But at least I was able to finish the race, unlike last year when I fell on a hill and had to be tended to by an emergency injury crew from the Red Cross. It was not a pleasant day for a run - 39 degrees and overcast, with a light intermittent misty rain. I had 3 F's in mind, and 2 of them disappeared quickly. Fun largely went out the window with the weather, and Fast evaporated too as my efforts were bent not on running quickly but merely on staying upright. But Finish took place this time, and I was glad for that, as it allowed me to leave last year's disappointing effort firmly in the rear-view mirror. As we waited for the race to begin, we huddled beneath a storefront canopy on main street, and, after showing my card, I had a nice conversation with 28-year-old Paul, his girlfriend Kelly, and their friend Denise. When Kelly told me her name, I said, "Irish!" She grinned and said, "Yes, but my birthday's not on St. Patrick's Day!" (I had already told them about mine.) Kelly has only been running for a couple of weeks; she was quite nervous about doing this race; and they were all impressed that an almost 53-year-old was doing it. Paul asked me where I went to college, and when I said, "Minnesota - a small school," he asked, "St. Olaf?" I said, "HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT?" He grinned and said, "Just a guess," but that led to some conversation about weather.