Runway Run

Imagine this...

CAFB Photos

It's a Saturday morning, hot and humid outside at 7:00 am, and you're getting ready to run 10 kilometers, most of which will be in a straight line. You were told it was going to be a "fun run" but can't seem to place where the fun is going to occur.

The race starts and you take off, only everyone around you actually takes off much faster and within 5 minutes you've already been passed by two ladies carrying on a conversation while seeming to sprint and a couple pushing a stroller. You double check to make sure you're not actually walking. Nope, definitely running.

You glance ahead and spot the first mile-marker in the distance. Gosh, it seemed like it took a long time to get here! Looking at your watch you see it's been almost 10 minutes since the race started. Ten minutes! I could have sworn I was going faster than that! Then as you get closer you see it's not a mile-marker at all, it's just an arrow pointing for you to keep running. So you do. And about 20 minutes later you accept the realization that there are not going to be any mile-makers on this course.

In the meantime, there is a quick-footed Asian runner that overtakes you at a pace you swear you were surpassing. He runs over to the side of the course, well ahead of you, whips out his iPhone, snaps a few shots of the morning surroundings, and gingerly joins back into the run. Huh, so that's how people take pictures while running. Still, I'd rather not carry my iPhone while running.

Finally you take it upon yourself to just speed up as much as you can to get this thing over with. That is the reason you started, right? To just get it over with. You round one last corner and the finish line is finally in sight. This is it. The only goal is to catch up to the guy who sprinted past you in his own desperate attempt to finish the damn thing while trying not to let the girl behind you pass you while she's trying to do the same thing.

Then you cross the finish line and finally it's over. Hooray! Except your legs and lungs are not saying "hooray." They are saying, "Why the hell do you torture us this way, you cruel sadistic person? Now we're going to make you feel like you are dying and look like you are are drunk and disabled."

Okay, so that may be a bit of a cynical rendition of my Saturday morning. Although many of those thoughts were going through my head during the run, it was a good start to an overall great day that was otherwise filled with tailgating, football viewing, and my teams winning. Go Georgia Bulldogs and Mississippi State Bulldogs!

My husband told me about this Runway 10k on Wednesday, and the race was to take place on Saturday. A little short notice, sure, but we're already pretty well-conditioned runners so I was not worried about the distance at all. Plus I've never done a 10k before, just some 5k's and half-marathons a few years ago. Even better, this one was free and it was going to be held on the newly re-paved runway at the base where we're currently stationed.

Now most any runner can tell you how mentally taxing it is to run a straight line for an extended period of time. So most runners probably wouldn't jump at the thought of running along 12,000 feet of concrete with no turns, trees, shade, or any change in elevation whatsoever. For me, it was a one-time this-is-cool sort of deal. For a civilian to go out on the runway at an Air Force base, that's just about the quickest way to get arrested. Just, let's not even think about doing that. But for a race where they open it up for people to run on? Well, I though that was pretty cool because it's probably just about the only chance I'll ever get to go on an Air Force runway by foot.

Now, it was told to us runners that this would be a 10k run. That's 6.2 miles for us American peoples. However when I glanced at my watch crossing the finish line and it told me, "You just finished this in 47 minutes," I was beyond belief. I had loosely set the goal for myself to finish the race in about 50 minutes, so when I crossed the finish line I thought, "This cannot be so."

And it wasn't. I later found out that the race was not actually 6.2 miles, but rather, it was closer to 5.8. Okay, not bad, that's still an 8:10 pace.

Looking back on races, like many runners, I always think, why couldn't I have gone just a little bit faster? Would it really have been so hard to get an 8:05 pace?

Well, at least I know now about how well I would have done if this had been a real 10k. It gives me something to work with. And it made me feel like I'd really done a lot with my day before 10:00 am. And I got to go on the runway!

Now can someone please tell me where my pet bull went? I need him to run up to this cool little towel I got for participating in the Runway Run!