OLYMPICS WITHOUT MICHAEL PHELPS

photo courtesy of NY Times

Man, that first week of the Olympics had all the riveting drama one could want in a TV program. Michael Phelps and the U.S. Swim Team were truly amazing. Plus, we got to watch the events live. But now that it’s all over, current programming seems like a huge letdown. Not only are we watching taped events from the prior day, but we’re also watching events like trampoline, table tennis, and women’s gymnastics in which the Americans outperform the Chinese yet get out judged. {Yawn} So is that it for Olympic drama? Come back, Michael.

PERSONAL BEST

I'm actually the guy in about row 5, just to the right of the R and behind a guy in a black shirt.

No, this isn’t about the fairly irrelevant lesbian movie from the 80s. Rather, this is about an unlikely occurrence last night. I ran the Corporate Challenge 5K race for the second time. Last year was the first time I’d ever run in a race. My goal this year was simply to be faster than last. I had a few things going for me compared to last year. I ran and trained more regularly, and I knew what to expect from the heat and the course itself.

The problem was, my times were slow. I really run for exercise only. I don’t really like it or think it’s fun. My best 5K time for the past month was only 31:40 so going into the race I had little expectation. Yet for some reason, I felt confident. I felt like I was challenging myself and I was not going to fail. Maybe I was a little inspired by the absence of my friend who broke his ankle just 3 days before the race.

Whatever the reason, the gun went off and I clicked my iPod into action. I selected songs to inspire me and it worked. Running over the two bridges didn’t kill me this year. I was ready for them. At the half-way point, I’d dunked myself with two cups of water to keep myself cool; something I failed to do last year. I was stunned to see my time of 14:28. I thought to myself even if I slowed to my normal turtle pace, I could break 31 minutes. The next mile was certainly the toughest as I fretted that I’d gone out too fast and had nothing left for the finish. But I just concentrated on my music, got two more water drownings, and ignored my watched until I crossed the finish line as the timer read 29:12. I’d beaten my best time by over two minutes and I still have no idea how I did it?

One thing’s for sure. I was exhausted. I think the hardest part of the race was walking from the finish line to our corporate tent where I quickly downed three Gatorade’s. It seems fairly insignificant, but for one of the few times in my life, I’m readily proud of what I did. Maybe it was the personal challenge and doing something I didn’t think was possible. Yeah, I don’t like running but I AM looking forward to next year’s race with the opportunity to do another personal best.