May 19, 2024- Runaversary

COVID-19, “The Rona Era”

Do you know what today is……it’s your anniversary, yeah, yeah. Today is my runaversary. May 19, 2013 was the day of my first race and run EVER. I had no idea what this would lead to. 57 half marathons, 4 marathons, running a half marathon in each state, studying, writing, and researching about running. Who knew? Not me!

My friend Jenny asked me to sub in for a person who could not be on their relay team. If I wasn’t blinded by grief, I would have not done it. The irony is that grief, something that weighed heavy on my soul made me do it. Wanting to keep up the dysfunctional image of a strong black woman- made me do this.

A weird blessing in disguise.

Fast forward 11 years. I’m now 50. For my jubilee year celebration my goal : 5 half marathons and 5-5s. Anything with a 5 in it, I will do to celebrate 5 decades. So I ran a 5k and today I ran a 5miler. Where it all started.

The last time I ran this course was in 2013. Over 4,000 folks ran this and the route was different. The year I ran it, I remember there being a bagpipe player. Today there were no bagpipes or music.

I knew what to expect, when I had no clue 11 years ago. I’m apart of a diverse running community, so I knew lots of people from my running crews that ran this.

Unfortunately, this was not the weather to run in. It was cold, wet, and rainy. I didn’t properly dress for this. This was my first race since the Flying Pig Half Marathon.

This route was familiar. I did not remember it all from the first time I ran it. But, I’ve run this route many times in the early morning. So I knew it.

I knew a lot of things this time around. Who knows what I will do for my 15th or 20th runaversary. This was a day that changed me.

Harpoon 5 Miler

#791

Place: 2696

Pace: 10:07

Division Place: 62

Nettime: 50:33