Not So Ready to Run

The much anticipated Vancouver Sun Run took place Sunday May 9, 2010. I had been training really hard to beat my time. Training really hard meaning for a month and a half starting January, I was running consistently three times a week. Then the Olympics took place, then it was Dine Out Vancouver, I became mentally tired even though I was working the same hours. Then yes, I had fallen off the wagon. And boy was it ever hard to get back on.

Since I had not run consistently in almost two months, two days before the Vancouver Sun Run I decided to go for a light run just to feel as if I had trained really hard. I ended up just going to a two hour brisk walk. Better than nothing right?

Every year I end up doing the Run Run by myself since no one I know really enjoys running that much. But this year just for a few moments, did I really understand the bliss of the sound of running. We had just passed the start line by fifty metres and I had my iPod blaring with music, but when the song ended, there was that three seconds of silence. As I waited for the next song to play, I heard the sound of hundreds of feet pounding the pavement. No one said a word. Just the sound of panting and pounding as if that were the heartbeat of everyone around me.

I turned my iPod off and just listened. This I thought was the moment I would never forget. I closed my eyes just for a second and let the noise reverberate through me. This was my runner's high. I had to take a short video to capture the moment. My phone camera couldn't quite pick up the sound but I thought I'd share anyway.

I finished the race in one piece. One hour. I never did beat my time from last year. That's what I got for being lazy. But I have next year to look forward to. That sound that I've been longing to hear again but can't get out of my mind.