:: THE SUN RUN ::

I have never liked running. It always seemed to me to be futile to run until you're exhausted, and be right back where you started. But somehow I got talked into doing the Vancouver Sun Run. April 20th rolled around - the day of the race. We were up with the sun. Sunrise is an amazing time - I forget because I often miss it.

The plan was to go over to the McCann's for smoothies and to follow them to the race. The problem was that we were out of gas - well, almost. We actually made it all the way, but we were expecting to get a warmup push...

We made it to the race right on time. We all had to go to the bathroom, but there were about 80 people in line. So we found a nearby church that was open (after all, it was Sunday...) Then we pushed our way through the crowd to the starting place. I was with the yellows which were at the front of the line, so it was a bit of work to get there.

It was actually quite amazing. 59,179 registrants! There was loud music and lots of spandex. We were packed in between the buildings like sardines (in this case spandex means you can fit more people in a small space). There was just no room to move at all - everyone shoulder to shoulder. I'm just glad this was before the race and not afterward when everyone is sweaty and stinky. Then a buzzer sounded and the race was on!

Now, when I imagine a race, I see athletic people bent over at a starting block ready to sprint off at the sound of the gun. Not only were there no starting blocks here (which is understandable), nobody actually ran... When the buzzer sounded, everyone just started waddling toward the finish line... So much for finishing in under an hour.

As we neared the starting point (a place where the little computer chip you wear on your shoelace starts counting) the crowd started to spread out enough that people could run. So I crossed the starting point and started jogging. Fresh air and lots of excited people made the first kilometer really easy. One down, nine to go.

I wasn't the only one who thought the first K was easy. Lots of people thought it was easy and were running past me. But I kept my pace and didn't get carried away. At the second kilometer, however, I started passing many of these people. Two kilometers down, eight to go.

This was now only the second time in my life I'd run this distance... The first time was about a week earlier while I was training (can you call it training if you never do more than 1/5? That's like saying taking a bath is training for a swimming championship...) I ran just under 3k. Somewhere around 2.5k my knee started bothering me (I think it's from a knee injury when I was about 14), so I walked the rest of the way home (about another 1.5k). By the time I got home, my knee was in pretty bad shape. I pretty much had to stay off of it until the race. For this reason, I'd gotten a knee brace for the Sun Run. I'd also bought some special gel inserts for my shoes to minimize impact and hopefully keep my knee pain-free until the end of the race. I should have spent the money on crutches instead...

By about the 3rd kilometer, my knee started bothering me. It wasn't bad at first, but it got worse quickly. I decided to walk for a bit and see if I could walk it off. Besides getting yelled at, there's not much to do when you're walking, so I watched the scenery crawl by. All along the route, there's different bands and performers. Companies set up eye-catching ad banners with employees there to cheer on the runners. A homeless man was passionately playing a harmonica on a park bench with his hat on the ground - though I doubt many of the runners were carrying spare change. There's water stands about every kilometer manned by school kids who hand out little cups of water to the runners as they go past. There was plenty to see.

There's a bit of a hill (more like an incline) at one point during the race. Apparently this is one of the most difficult places. It's at about 4.5k. As you near this point, everyone comes shoulder-to-shoulder and the pace slows to a waddle. At this point I was able to gain some ground and ran past a lot of people. My pride felt good but my knee didn't, so I had to slow to a walk again.

As we neared the finish line people started speeding up. Gasping and wheezing, they pushed and shoved past others in an attempt to shave 2.6 seconds off their time. By this time I was getting passed by people wearing green race numbers (that means they started 20 minutes after I did...) I tried to run, but I just couldn't. So I walked across the finish line. 1:13:52. That's how long it takes to run 3 kilometers and walk 7 - in case you were wondering.

Here's where we went:

It was a great experience, and I definitely got a taste for running. I've been doing exercises to help strengthen my knee so I can actually run... In retrospect, I also learned some very valuable lessons:

- Enthusiasm and excitement may get you ahead at first, but only discipline will get you to the finish line. Emotion isn't bad, but it's not enough. Discipline is a necessity in life, both physically and spiritually.
- There's many things to see and appreciate in life, but you'll miss them if you don't slow down a bit and pay attention along the way. Success was great, but I wouldn't run again if it hadn't been for the 73 minutes before.
- A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. It was an enormous frustration to see people wheezing and sweating as they ran past me. Never once did I break a sweat - I couldn't even get my pulse elevated. Physically, I had so much energy, but it was useless. I had so much motivation, but it didn't help. I had so much to give, but I could only move as fast as my feeble knee.

You're only as strong spiritually, as your weakest character trait. Make sure that every aspect of your character is examined and exercised. The fact that I didn't know about my lame knee until a week before the race was very frustrating. Had I started training early - had I been diligent to push myself and test my limits from the start - I could have caught the problem and made progress toward overcoming it.

Now is the time to be diligent - the race we run is infinitely more important than the Sun Run.