I’ve done 5K events before, and even a 10K not too long ago, but I was always a walker. This was my first time as a runner…

It went pretty well, I have to say.

My friend Ginny and I took the Max (our light rail) to Lincoln High School, where the event was being held. This was the 30th year for the Starlight Run and the theme was supposed to be the ’70s, but we ran out of time to make era-appropriate costumes. She had a couple of funny t-shirts – one had a shapely female body wearing a bikini, and the other had an equally shapely female wearing a teddy that clearly belonged to Mrs. Claus (red, trimmed with white fur). So we wore those and called it good. She got the bikini, because it was purple and that’s her favorite color, and I got Mrs. Claus.

Ginny is a serious marathoner so for her a 5K is nothing special. I have never been a runner before in my life. so for me it was huge. The first and last time I have run that far in my life was last weekend, when I did 3.14 miles (0.04 more than 5K) in 32 minutes and 28 seconds, which works out to 10 minutes, 19 seconds per mile (thank you, Nike+!). Thanks to that I felt confident, perhaps too confident, that I would be able to run the entire course and turn in a decent time.

As it turned out, I ran pretty steadily for the first 2 miles and then walked a good deal of the third. I didn’t count on the hills; my test run was completely flat. And I think I let myself get sucked by the crowd into starting out quite a bit faster than I usually go, though I won’t know that until they post the chip times. Considering the circumstances I was pleased with the results.

One thing I hadn’t expected was that the race was run on the course of the Starlight Parade, and so we had a huge audience. In some areas the people were lined up in rows 5 and 6 deep. And since there was nothing else for them to do, they cheered and hollered at us. Ginny got lots of comments of “great bod!”, while I got “hey, Mrs. Claus!”. One guy said “wow, Mrs. Claus in a thong!” as he ran past me; I was too busy running to give him a lesson in lingerie, which he clearly needed. :) There is a tradition of children lining up along the side of the street and holding out their hands for runners to “high-5″ as they go past. I touched a lot of hands tonight… (let’s not think about the germs, shall we?)

Running with a cheering section like that was a lot of fun; it made me feel like a super-star athlete.

After we both finished the race (I’m faster for this short a distance, but Ginny can out-endurance me any day of the week) we walked back down to the parade route and watched for a while. Typical stuff; marching bands, classic cars, the Clydesdales. The synchronized dance team from one of the trash companies, each of whom was dancing with a recycling cart, was an unusual entry. The best entry we saw, in my opinion, was the One More Time Around Again Marching Band. Although they take anyone over the age of 18, it looked like most of the members were retired. I was a band kid in junior high, and I would love to do it again someday.

I got home and then set out again to get some dinner. The worst thing about living in the ‘burbs, by far, is the lack of interesting food, and even more the lack of anything open after 9 or 10 pm. At 11:00 pm I had my choice of fast food: Burger King, Del Taco, Sonic, Arby’s, A&W Root Beer, and of course Jack in the Box. I’m sure Carl’s Jr, Wendy’s and Mc Donald’s were open too. Doesn’t that all sound just lovely? I ended up at Burger King and it was edible, which is better than I can say for the *last* time I ate there.

I let the dogs out of their crates after I was done eating, and the smell of french fries in the house made them half lose their minds. Mike (my ex) used to feed them french fries several times a day, usually tossing them like fish to a trained seal, but I rarely eat them. They tore through the house trying to find the source of that wonderful (to them! :) smell, but they were all gone. Too bad, so sad!

We’re doing it all again in the morning, this time at OHSU. Yes, you could call us crazy! :)

Update: My official pace was 11’42″ per mile. Not great, but considering how much I walked in the last third of the race I think I probably met or beat my previous time of 10’19″. Not sure, though.