Last Sunday, I completed my first ten mile race! I've been wanting to up the ante as far as my race mileage is concerned and Revenge of the Penguins was a low-key way to do that. I've been horribly inconsistent in my workouts over the last 2 months, but that didn't keep me from getting to the finish line. If I'm being honest with myself, and you, I'd say I jogged about 7 miles and walked the other 3, finishing in 2:10:47. But also, if I'm to trust my Nike Plus running app, the course was actually 10.7 miles. That's a serious discrepancy, and obviously I'll be trusting the one that says I ran 'almost 11' because it makes me look more hard-core.
I 'placed' 97th out of 104 runners. By the time I crossed the finish, I would have sworn I finished dead last (which I feel would have made this a funnier story). There wasn't a runner with a bib on for miles in either direction. My very supportive running buddy, who finished far ahead of me, tried to assure me that there were still plenty of runners behind me. All I could think was, "Yeah, the people who are doing 20 miles..."
Now we have to talk about something serious. In upping said ante, I may or may not have contributed to terrorism. When I registered for this very small, local race, the registration was through a parent website called Marathon Charity Cooperation. On top of that, the race was called Revenge of the Penguins 10-Miler and 20-Miler. What does that even mean? There were no further details and I didn't think much about it at the time. Well. There I am Sunday, just jogging my little jog, and at Mile 1 there was a sign that said "Iqraa! Run for a brighter Palestine!" And that's when I realized - Was my $30.00 registration fee possibly funneled to Hamas? Am I presently pal-ing around with terrorists? Is pal-ing a word? Oh my GOD!
At that point I couldn't change anything, so I continued running. Running for a brighter Palestine. And I hope my Jewish friends will forgive me. But they weren't exactly offering refunds.
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