A Good Run

Although I've been running since I was 16, I don't "do" races. I trained twice for a marathon and blew my knee on the first attempt and then missed the deadline to register for the second. Running is my thing and I prefer to do it alone, at my own pace, without anyone else around.

 

HOWEVER, when I heard earlier this year that a bunch of Cov folks did the Color Run in 2012, I started to rethink my aversion to races. I looked into it and discovered that they were holding one in Atlantic City in October! What fun! It was only a 5K=about 3 miles so I decided that I wouldn't really "run" it...just show up for the fun and experience, maybe jog a bit.

 

I recruited a few other folks to go and decided we'd also try to raise monies for Covenant House (albeit a minimal fund raiser since the Sleep Out is about a month away). Someone brilliant (not me) also decided that we should ask one of our kids to run and try and raise funds for her.

 

The young lady we selected was already a runner and got really excited to be a part of it. I'll call her Anna. As the race drew closer, she kept me up on her training regime. Last week we went to pick up our registration packets.  You were supposed to bring ID...you HAD to bring ID, actually, something that was my responsibility to remind her of but I'd forgotten. My co-worker and I were dreading the walk to the registration line. I leaned over to my co-worker and said, "Who do you think looks most forgiving?" She nodded at one woman and decided, "Her", so to her line we went. We explained that Anna hadn't brought her ID...we said we could vouch for her...and as we pleaded the woman kept looking at us, sort of perplexed. Finally she burst out, "I KNOW you! You're Covenant House! I attended your Community Connection event 2 weeks ago!" and with that Anna was able to pick up her packet.

When we got into the van she kept marveling at how cool it was that, "that lady just let me in! She knew who you were! You could have picked any line but you chose hers!" So I shared about Providence, about God orchestrating all events of our lives and that all those pieces that had fit together weren't just an accident. She kinda nodded..."Everything happens for a reason", she said.

 

We were supposed to meet at 7:30am at my office but I know our kids so I arrived at 7am and sure enough she was still asleep. 3 other co-workers and one child showed up, all hyped and ready to go. Anna finally emerged from her room in her get up and a black tutu.

I'd braided bandannas into my hair and added bunnies on my head. It was a nice excuse to look ridiculous.

Lots of people dressed for the occasion.

 

The race itself started off well...You just run and every so often run through a shute of people tossing color onto you. The male among us, who is a runner and does races, started to keep a pace...and this just wouldn't do for me! I decided to keep up with him, all while trying to keep the back pack on my back from flopping as it contained my camera, glasses, cell phone, wallet, and 3 sets of keys. But darn it I was not NOT going to be first in our group to finish.

 

He and I completed the race in 28 minutes, not bad, especially since there we portions where we couldn't even see where we were going, the color was so thick.  My other co-workers and Anna soon followed.  We hung around, took pictures, danced a bit, threw some more color, and called it a day.

 

 

 

Anna wasn't feeling too well by the time it was all over (racing can do that!) but as I drove her back home, she looked at her arms, her outfit, all the colors and markings of something new she'd just experienced...and she said with a smile, "If I didn't have to do some one's hair later, I'd stay in this outfit all day".

The whole thing was neat for me...not buckets list worthy, not something I'd be chomping at the bit to do again...the plus was that I actually RAN so I decided I could reward myself with a frozen yogurt later on.  But I hope that for Anna, this was something to put on her current Top 10 list of cool experiences. I hope that not only was participating in the race itself awesome, but that she got to hang out with 4 staff for the morning who weren't fussing at her for something or reviewing a case plan or calculating how much money she needed to save until she could get her won place...we got dirty, we sweated, Ms. Jen had bunnies on her head, we laughed, we danced...solidarity at it's best.