Then She Ran the Firebirds Mile

The people spoke.

Poll Results:
Firebirds Mile: 57.9%
Regular workout: 38.6
And 5.3 percent of you wanted me on the couch watching "Housewives"?? WTF?!

So I listened. (And I still got home in time for "Housewives." Sweet!)

The Firebirds Mile, held 4/14, is a joint effort of the Gaithersburg Firebirds Youth Track Club and the Montgomery Country Road Runners.

As usual, after battling D.C. traffic all the way to God's little acre, I was in a foul mood. My stomach was doing flipflops, and I was resigned to an 11 min mile. Plus, it was, yet again, raining, cold, and windy. Perfect.

My coach had sent directions about how to prepare: One mile warmup, 800m of strides (something like "run hard on the straights and jog the turns").

My legs felt encased in cement as I warmed up, and I just knew this was gonna suck. Afterwards, I got off the track to watch the 1/4 mile fun run, and my warmed-up muscles evaporated in the cold.

If you are ever in a bad mood, please, go cheer for a bunch of toddlers as they participate in a fun run. Hiiiilarious! They skip, race, walk, stop, turn around, ask to be carried, run, whatever. As one little guy approached the chute, he stopped to fiddle with his shoe.

You know, kind of the way I run a half-mary!

There weren't that many adults there, at least not that many adults my age. That meant there was the wild possibility that I might win my AG.

We were sent out in heats (or COLDS, as I prefer to call them), slowest to fastest. Heat one was for expected finish times greater than 10:00. I considered this, because hello, that's kinda my speed. But when I saw the competition, I just couldn't bear the thought of having my butt kicked by these guys:



(Heat One, 10 minutes and slower)

Heat two was for expected finish times greater than 9:00 up to 10:00

(Heat two. I so wanted to get in front of these kids, it took all my self-restraint. That, plus the derision of others. I'm wearing a white hat, looking down.)

(Those kids had a totally unfair advantage. I'm still in the back, checking my watch.)

I started conservatively. I really wanted to do this in 9:something. I'd been doing 800s in 4:30ish, so I figured this was a possibility.

I passed a few kids, and said "Great job!," cuz I'm nice like that.

At the first lap, I was behind a line of grownups. We were running in formation:



Then, suddenly, I made my move, by swinging wiiiiiide outside:


Slowly but surely, Mr. Run for the Roses was going DOWN:


I passed all of the grown ups, except the Roses guy!

Oh, honey, I know exactly how you feel:
Her coach came out and ran with her, and she recovered nicely. Well done!)

But I passed her too.

And then in a surprise come-from-behind, I passed Mr. Roses. Here I am flying into the chute, after having tossed my hat off during lap three, cuz it was cramping my style:
(For the record? I am at my skinniest EVER, and I totally deny looking like this. White is ever-so-NOT-slimming.)

Final time:
8:56.63
3/5
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have to tell you, there is no greater feeling on earth than starting behind and passing a pile of people. I don't care if they are 3 feet tall, or a bunch of old geezers like me, it was AWESOME!

I finally got a mile that starts with an "8"!

I can't wait to do that again.