Nostalgia

I am not a runner. I'm really not athletic at all. (Big shock, I know.) I played field hockey in high school, and I pushed hard and was one of the fastest runners on the team, but I was not one of the best players. I had to really work at it. In college, my roommates and I would go run around the BYU track together, mostly because we were working our way toward the freshman 15 and we realized that eventually we'd have to exercise to avoid obesity. The older I get and the more kids I have, the more important it becomes for me to stay active. I don't really enjoy working out, but I like the feeling when I finish a hard workout, and the way I feel the rest of the day. (To be honest, I am in need of a targeted diet and exercise program to get me down to where I am comfortable with my weight, but that's a subject for another day.)

In Spokane, I found the exercise I really love. I had discovered walking after I started having kids, partly as exercise, but more as a way to take the kids to the park and get in a little bit of activity at the same time. Then after a month or two in Spokane, John found this cool running route. He took me on a drive to show me, and I fell in love immediately. The houses we passed were beautiful, as were the rolling hills, the forests of trees, and the openness of it all. And we saw cows, horses, deer, and innumberable other creatures. I decided to walk it for the first time when my sisters were in town visiting me. I didn't realize how long the walk was, and we weren't in the greatest shape - one of my sisters had a pretty new baby. So it took us forever, and we went in the middle of a very hot day. We were all terribly sore the next day, and I had a new goal. I was going to walk that route every day. It was perfect! (Here are some pictures. I know, not the first time I've posted pics of Regal.)




The walk started out around 4.5 miles, but it grew. At first I started turning around just over halfway through, and that made it a little longer. Then John heard about the Bloomsday Race, a 12K run downtown every year, and signed up for a team at the hospital. In training for the race, he discovered another road to add to our route, which made it about 6 miles total. I loved the new road. It was even more remote, and included a killer hill - the kind of hill that leaves you drooling when you get to the top because you're so tired you can't control your own body functions. I decided that I should walk the Bloomsday Race with the stroller. I used the race as an excuse to "train." I started turning around more than halfway into the new route, making a 7 mile walk. The most I ever did was 8.5, stopping at the church for the kids to play at the park and then turning around and going home. I became obsessed, and I timed myself every day, pushing to go faster. I fell in love with walking - walking for speed, preferably with a heavy stroller. Not quite sure what you'd call that, as far as sports go.

The Bloomsday Race was a memorable event. More than 40,000 people finished the race. They have 8 different start times. John got to start near the front because he was on a corporate team. Unfortunately for me, if you have a stroller, you are in the last group with all of the walkers, kids, and folks who don't care at all about speed. They told us when we got to the starting line that there were 35,000 people already ahead of us. It was so hard to push through that crowd, so I had a really hard time getting any sort of speed. I had been terrified of the course because it seemed really scary when we drove it. There were some pretty mean hills - one that they call Doomsday Hill and they even have a guy at the top dressed as a vulture, waiting for racers who can't make it up the hill. But my adrenalin was pumping and the hills seemed easy compared to finding ways to weave in and out of the other racers. With all of my frustration, I still loved that I had finished a race with my stroller, and my time wasn't too shabby. For those of you who have run big races like that, you know how exciting it is to be a part of something so big. We met up with John and walked back to the car with the kids, wishing that we could do the race every year. (I'm sad that I didn't take many pictures. Here's a pic of the crowd, and one of the kids and me before the race.)



Bloomsday 2008 is this coming Sunday. I swear to you, if money weren't an issue (gas prices are terrible!), I would drive up there this weekend just to walk it with the stroller again, pregnant belly and all. This time I'd make sure that I'm at the very front of the last starting group, and I'd be more forceful in pushing my way past people - once you get through the walkers, it has to thin out a little. I could use it as an excuse to visit my cousin in Walla Walla and walk my beloved route on Regal again. As strange as it may sound, I think there's a real possibility that John and I will do the Bloomsday Race again someday.