The scene: Lincoln Park, around 8:30 am Saturday morning, where we have just finished running my first-ever 5K
Pseudo: Wheeze. Wheeze wheeze wheeze. Holy crap I did it! I might barf.
John: You did it! And faster than you thought you could! Good job!
Pseudo: It WAS fast, wasn’t it? Go me!
John: I knew it!
Pseudo: Knew what?
John: Knew you could go faster if you were pushed!
Pseudo: Pushed?
John: Like, if I went out at a faster pace than you were used to!
Pseudo: I thought you said you did that just at the beginning, to get us a better position in a less crowded part of the pack?
John: Well, yeah, that was part of it, but the other part was that I had a goal.
Pseudo: You had a goal?
John: But I didn’t want to tell you about it.
Pseudo: You had a secret goal?
John: I wanted us to run it in under 27 minutes. I knew if I told you that, you’d freak out and say you couldn’t do it, so I decided to just run faster than you wanted and make you keep up.
Pseudo: So even though my self-proclaimed goal was just to finish, because this was my first-ever race and I was nervous, you decided to make it about speed anyway, though I’d specifically asked you not to?
John: Yep! I knew you could do it!
Pseudo: And back around the third mile when I felt like I might die and I was having trouble breathing and wondering why my inhaler didn’t seem to be working- that was you? You were doing that ON PURPOSE?
John: Yeah! Isn’t it great? You ran so fast!
Pseudo: And now, when I’m sitting here trying my hardest not to barf, wondering why I’ve never felt like I needed to hurl at the end of a run before- you caused that? INTENTIONALLY?
John: Uh Huh! Awesome job, sweetie!
Pseudo: On second thought, maybe I want to barf after all. ON YOU.
*****
(Um, except now that I’m recovered from the barfy feeling, I’m kind of hooked and want to run another one. Stupid running, proving John right.)
Did you really run it in under 27 minutes? That’s amazing!
They totally are addicting, aren’t they? It’s like I can’t stop signing up for 5ks now.
You rock, my friend! I’m not sure we can go running together. Because you’re all like “I’m so not fast.” And I’m all like, well, you don’t know what I’m all like because you lost me in your dust.
Way to go! I was hoping to run my first 5K in May, but I’m afraid a hurting foot might keep me from it, but oh, how much I want to.
For now, I’m settling in on the first day of April break to watch the Marathon.
27 minutes – that is gazelle-like! Whoo!
And I love that John had a “secret goal.” Tricky!
haha, i love how john was totally unfazed by all your points post-race. also: HOLY CRAP WOMAN! UNDER 27 MINUTES????
Hahahahahaha Nilsa’s comment made me laugh. Go you for finishing! But I still kind of think you should have puked on John.
Congrats – on finishing and on finishing in 27 minutes!