Welcome to this week’s Five Minute Friday. Our instructions, via creator Kate Motaung: “Write for five minutes on the word of the week. This is meant to be a free write, which means: no editing, no over-thinking, no worrying about perfect grammar or punctuation.”
Today’s prompt: FAMILIAR
Today’s Turkey Trot was all too familiar.
It took me one hour, twenty-eight minutes, and twenty-two seconds to walk the 3.1 miles/5 kilometers. 1:28:22. In previous years, I ran the 10K in less time than that.
It brought back my running life in 2009 when I started blogging (planning to always call the blog “The Last Banana Club” (how times change LOL!)). When I so frequently finished at the back of the pack and/or last.
Before I started improving, and thinking my goal of breaking 30:00 for a 5K was possible.
Before the implantable loop recorder, the EP study and subsequent decision not to do an ablation.
The familiar part(s) today?
The law enforcement saying to each other “we’ve got to be getting near the end.”
The water stations being dismantled.
The music ending.
The photographer not paying attention to me, walking along, as the 10K finishers streamed past me.
As I saw people who had finished their races returning to their cars/homes, I saw the medals around their necks. As many back-of-the-packers do, I wondered if there would be any left when I got to the finish line.
Because I was among the very last finishers of the 5K, the medal volunteers weren’t paying attention (because the 10K finishers were completing their races through an adjacent chute).
I approached one and asked “do I get a medal?”
She said, “you get a medal whether you ran an inch or 15 miles.”
And that is the spirit of the running community with which I am most familiar.
***Thoughts beyond five minutes. Although my five-minute clock has ended, I want to make sure to note how much I love the running community. I didn’t anticipate writing something quite so self-centered and relatively negative, especially on Thanksgiving after a day filled with family, plenty, friends, and safety, but I believe strongly in honest writing, and the prompt “familiar” sent me down a particular path that I found it important and a little cathartic to pursue. ~ pk***
This post is part of the weekly Five Minute Friday linkup.
Wife of one, Mom of two, Friend of many. My pronouns are she/her/hers.
Oh, Paula! I am so very impressed by your heart.
I used to be a runner; never anything formal, just 7-10 miles a day for over 20 years (not including deployments, which made that harder to keep up). I miss it!
So glad to find your voice here on Thanksgiving evening.
I’m pretty sure 7-10 miles a day for over 20 years made you a runner! 🙂 This could certainly have been a post longer than five minutes. I thought back yesterday to the two-page, single-spaced “feedback” email I sent to the director years ago with all my picky suggestions/complaints. Not to read too much into how life has evolved, but I think part of the reason things have gone the way they have is to give me insight into just how self-centered and self-important we can get in any endeavor we love and are 100% capable of ………. it’s easy to border on obnoxious LOL. Glad to link up with you last night.
Anyone who runs even an inch is amazing to me. I might do a little sprint but that’s it. Well done. I think your accomplishment is great.
Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We are Canadian so we had ours in October.
Blessings
Janis
Number 8 on FMF.
Canadian Thanksgiving always looks fun! (We have lots of expats here in Tallahassee so we see some neat goings-on.) It’s definitely weird to straddle two different sides of a community (running) when faced with limitations. But I imagine there are lessons in this for me. There already have been. 🙂
We definitely enjoyed our Canadian Thanksgiving.
Glad to hear it!
I used to run 6 miles everyday in the hot South Florida sun at noon. I became addicted and addicted to not eating as well. A very bad combination. I think about running again, but it scares me…. and I don’t like living afraid. So maybe this year I will put the fear behind me after nearly 30 years and start again. No addictions. \0/ Thanks for sticking with your race no matter what. Your words inspire me… Bless you! Visiting from #15 #fmf
Wow our journeys take us some “interesting” places, don’t they? Not too many years ago, I ran a crazy event (it was kind of a running + beer + friends thing) —- I think it was around 7 miles overall —- a lovely friend volunteered to do it with me —- I think the heat index was 106 degrees. It was crazy, in retrospect, but definitely bonded us. Good luck with resuming —- it’s definitely possible to do in moderation —- much of the battle (IMO) is not worrying about how everyone else does it or would do it.
Well done on keeping going and finishing the race! Making it to the end is an achievement regardless of the speed. Hope you had a happy Thanksgiving! Visiting from FMF #5.
Thanks, Lesley! Yes we had a great Tgiving. Hope you did too. I owe all my FMF friends a visit! 🙂
Good job! I’m so not a runner at all and have tons of respect for those who do, I’m in the 14 spot this week.
Thanks! I’ll look forward to visiting your post soon. 🙂