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Sep 19/01 — Jacquie: First race!
Kathryn and Jacquie side-by-side at Longboat
[Editor's Note: Jacquie ran her first race, the Longboat Toronto Island 10K, on September 9, 2001. It was a very hot and humid 30C day. This is the best race in Toronto, but the weather left much to be desired...] My first race.
I was feeling a little nervous about racing; what should I expect? what were people expecting of me? Will I come in last? How hard will it be? I hadn't run a step since the 19K last Sunday and this fact wasn't helping my state of mind.
Everybody knows how hot it was, so I won't go on and on about it. This race was hard for me but it wasn't just about the heat. This is the hardest run I have ever had, even harder than my first run with the Penguins. My chest was tight, my legs were lead for the entire thing. Each kilometer was the same. There were times during kilometer 3 and the end of kilometer 8, when the legs felt loose. But overall, I felt like I was wearing someone else's body over mine. I ran but could not get that rush of energy that normally makes my legs light and my lungs free. I thought about quitting many times but was pulled on by the warm soul of the penguin running beside me (thanks so much).
I've thought about giving up running altogether. Why am I doing something that requires so much effort and drains me so completely? But I finished the race and I know the answer. In the words of Rudyard Kipling's poem 'IF': If you can fill that unforgiving minute with 60 seconds worth of distance run yours is the Earth and everything that's in it...
Well, now I can fill that minute with 90 minutes of distance run. Next year, God willing, it won't be so long or so unforgiving.
-30-
Previous Jacquie journal: Kingston run/"BMZ", Sep 5
Next Jacquie journal: Discouraged, Oct 3Return to the Toronto Penguins "Photos" Web page
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