New Year's Resolutions: The Race

On New Year's Eve for the last four years, we have run the Fairfax Four Miler.

We were part of the inaugural race:  great sweatshirts but we had to run in a circle for four miles since a storm blew down trees on the race course earlier in the day.

In year two, we ran the course backwards since the race supervisors didn't realize that St. Leo's Catholic Church had a Mass on New Year's Eve.  Given the timing, the runners would have been prime targets for the faithful who were leaving Mass *cough, cough* just a wee bit early.   Reversing the course meant we ran past the church long after the parking lot was empty.  Still, we felt somewhat non-religious that year as we ran by the silent church. 

By years three and four, the race had moved to the George Mason University Campus where trees behave themselves, the Catholic Church is closed when the students are on Winter Break, and the skies are not cloudy all day .... We still loved the race, but began to look for a little more undefinable something ....

 

For me, that something took the form of a New Year's Resolution of astonishing scope and power:  I would run ONE other race sometime before the next Fairfax Four.

Beth and I ran the Clarendon Day 10K on September 22nd.  In order to make it through the 6.2 miles on an uncharacteristically warm September day, we had heart monitors and Ipods and Nike+ mileage counters -- straps and wires and watches galore.  I notice a few more things when I look at this picture:  (1) After 25 years in the AF, I evidently feel the need to stand at attention at random times (2) Beth positively glows at 9:00AM.  I do not.  (3) This is one of the few times I've seen Beth workout in something other than a Kansas State T-shirt. 

It wasn't a large race, but there were still plenty of people.  See the man with the baby stroller in the back on the left?  He beat us by quite a bit.

The race began with an incredible downhill that went on for more than a mile.  See how happy we are early in the race during that downhill?

 

6.01356 miles later...yes, I was counting!

By this point in the race, I had managed to be running in a 10K at the exact time my second baby girl turned 21.  By exact, I mean not counting leap years, time zones, corrections to atomic clocks, and whatever might have happened to our conception of time during Y2K.  Happy 21st Birthday, Sarah! 

Beth stayed with me the entire race.  We had 'fun' trying to figure out why there were no water stations in the middle of the race (perhaps none could be located on Pentagon property?); what that person with the beeping heart rate monitor was trying to do (interval training during the race?); why anyone would run the 5K and then go back up that hill to run the 10K (evidently a popular option at this race); how many toes does a fish have (don't ask).  

By the time it was over, with this resolution checked off my list, I told Beth my new resolution was to do my first blog post ever.  Exactly one month later, here it is!