pow!
that was the sound the gun made at the start of my first official race, the calvin spring classic. my sister asked me to write about this, our finest hour (or half hour depending on how technical you are).
race day. i believe that both my sister and i were filled with a lot of apprehension that day. as hard as we tried to play it cool, i'm pretty sure we were both pretty nervous. if anything our giggles as we "prepared" gave us away. niether of us had run in a race since junior high track and field day. now, both of us were fairly well-ribboned from track and field of days past, so besides our nerves perhaps you might have sensed a little cockiness as well. we schippers like to boast of days past and i don't know about her, but i still have those ribbons tucked away in my "special box."
the first thing we had to do was pick up our goodie bags at the registration desk. we watched carefully as the other racers tied their official " race chips" to their sparkling white running shoes. we followed their actions precisely making sure to lace tightly. we pinned our numbers to our shirts without creating that "pinched fabric" look. and we did some stretching exercises, laughing as some of the more athletic looking runners were "warming up" by running laps around the parking lot in their black, sleek stretch pants and their wicking t-shirts. we congratulated ourselves for not looking like some of the older dutch moms that surrounded us.
soon, someone with a bullhorn gave the warning that the race was about to begin. not knowing that we were making a huge mistake, my sister and i lined up directly behind the starting line right along side of those long-legged runners in the sleek, black stretch pants. we had seen chaplain cooper, "coop, " Calvin's chaplain near the front so we didn't think twice about our decision. little did we know at the time that he is a seasoned marathon runner. but we didn't want to be near the dutch moms for pete's sake. they had hips! they were wearing sweatpants!
the gun went off. the pack began their 5K journey. but to our surprise everyone was sprinting! when the gun sounded those people surrounding us took off, FULL FORCE. my sister and i HAD to sprint with them or risk being trampled by the pack. i was out of breath in ten seconds. spent. wasted. i felt like i could run no further. i looked at my sister and i knew that my face mirrored her look of panic. she looked at me and with what breath we had left we started laughing. "why is everyone running so fast?!" she screamed. "i don't know...but i can't keep this up much longer!" i answered. we decided to move to the side of the street and slow down. soon we were running at a much easier pace and quickly catching up to the back of pack...or, they were catching up with us. soon we were surrounded by dutch moms.
that was the longest three miles i have ever run. i was tired. i was sweating. and i couldn't keep up with sweatpants. the worst part was when good ol' chaplain cooper kept running ahead and then running back to cheer on those of us bringing up the rear. he probably ran three times the distance that i did. i wanted to pull his shorts down.
luckily my lovely hubby caught this wonderful day on video. you can see me huffing at the two mile mark. i can barely manage a wave. then you can see my sister run by, trying to ignore the camera, trying to look determined. and then there was that exciting scene at the end. i saw brett with his camera so decided to show off a bit. there was an older woman running slightly ahead of me. she was wearing sweatpants. i wanted to waste her. so, i winked at the camera and took off. i passed the woman and probably made her sweatpants flutter a bit in the wind of my speed. i was thinking i had it in the bag and i was already congratulating myself when suddenly this gray blur went wizzing by me. the woman decided to put up a fight! i couldn't believe it. i picked up my speed again and we were head to head down the home stretch. she passed me, i passed her...and then she passed me...and then she beat me.... these were the official "chip" results:
race day. i believe that both my sister and i were filled with a lot of apprehension that day. as hard as we tried to play it cool, i'm pretty sure we were both pretty nervous. if anything our giggles as we "prepared" gave us away. niether of us had run in a race since junior high track and field day. now, both of us were fairly well-ribboned from track and field of days past, so besides our nerves perhaps you might have sensed a little cockiness as well. we schippers like to boast of days past and i don't know about her, but i still have those ribbons tucked away in my "special box."
the first thing we had to do was pick up our goodie bags at the registration desk. we watched carefully as the other racers tied their official " race chips" to their sparkling white running shoes. we followed their actions precisely making sure to lace tightly. we pinned our numbers to our shirts without creating that "pinched fabric" look. and we did some stretching exercises, laughing as some of the more athletic looking runners were "warming up" by running laps around the parking lot in their black, sleek stretch pants and their wicking t-shirts. we congratulated ourselves for not looking like some of the older dutch moms that surrounded us.
soon, someone with a bullhorn gave the warning that the race was about to begin. not knowing that we were making a huge mistake, my sister and i lined up directly behind the starting line right along side of those long-legged runners in the sleek, black stretch pants. we had seen chaplain cooper, "coop, " Calvin's chaplain near the front so we didn't think twice about our decision. little did we know at the time that he is a seasoned marathon runner. but we didn't want to be near the dutch moms for pete's sake. they had hips! they were wearing sweatpants!
the gun went off. the pack began their 5K journey. but to our surprise everyone was sprinting! when the gun sounded those people surrounding us took off, FULL FORCE. my sister and i HAD to sprint with them or risk being trampled by the pack. i was out of breath in ten seconds. spent. wasted. i felt like i could run no further. i looked at my sister and i knew that my face mirrored her look of panic. she looked at me and with what breath we had left we started laughing. "why is everyone running so fast?!" she screamed. "i don't know...but i can't keep this up much longer!" i answered. we decided to move to the side of the street and slow down. soon we were running at a much easier pace and quickly catching up to the back of pack...or, they were catching up with us. soon we were surrounded by dutch moms.
that was the longest three miles i have ever run. i was tired. i was sweating. and i couldn't keep up with sweatpants. the worst part was when good ol' chaplain cooper kept running ahead and then running back to cheer on those of us bringing up the rear. he probably ran three times the distance that i did. i wanted to pull his shorts down.
luckily my lovely hubby caught this wonderful day on video. you can see me huffing at the two mile mark. i can barely manage a wave. then you can see my sister run by, trying to ignore the camera, trying to look determined. and then there was that exciting scene at the end. i saw brett with his camera so decided to show off a bit. there was an older woman running slightly ahead of me. she was wearing sweatpants. i wanted to waste her. so, i winked at the camera and took off. i passed the woman and probably made her sweatpants flutter a bit in the wind of my speed. i was thinking i had it in the bag and i was already congratulating myself when suddenly this gray blur went wizzing by me. the woman decided to put up a fight! i couldn't believe it. i picked up my speed again and we were head to head down the home stretch. she passed me, i passed her...and then she passed me...and then she beat me.... these were the official "chip" results:
169 Snoeyink, Valerie Zeeland MI 18 225 74 28:47 9:17
312 Schipper, Sara Grand Rapids MI 25 226 75 28:47 9:17
the numbers that are important here are the 74 and 75. She stepped over the line
before i did. the "chip" never lies. i did beat my
sister though. sorry katy.
311 Hoffman, Kathryn Grand Rapids MI 28 244 84 29:57 9:39
-SN
posted by SN at 1:12 PM
2 Comments:
At least you were with a dutch mom. I competed with(and lost to)an octogenarian. Also, was posting final times necessary to the essay as a whole???
yes it was.
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