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December 10, 2005
On my competitive nature
I'll copy the warning previously seen at Erik's SnowedIn:
Warning: If you are easily bored by long drawn-out descriptions of running, you should probably skip this entry.
For a change of pace, I went to IU's HPER (School of Health, Physical Education, & Recreation) Gymnasium to exercise this morning. HPER (pronounced "hyper") is a huge and old gym, with an underground workout facility, lopsided indoor track, and damn near 20 indoor basketball courts (this is Indiana, after all). My normal exercise routine is to go over to my apartment complex's indoor facility, which is quite nice, but only offers treadmills for running. So I went for a run on HPER's indoor track.
While I was warming up, I saw a bunch of guys (and one lady) standing around on a basketball court, just waiting for something. Eventually, some guys showed up and started dispersing information. At first, I thought it was a pickup basketball tournament or something...but then I thought that 8:30 AM on a Saturday might be a little too early for something like that.
Turns out it was a testing session for the local Police recruiting agency. So these people all wanted to be Police officers. They started off with some races, one lap around the track. One lap is approximately 1/6 mile, so they were able to do it pretty quickly.
Later they started their longer run, and it pretty much coincided with the start of my run. Now, I was expecting a leisurely run for myself...but then when I saw all these people running, my competitive nature kicked into high gear. There's something about a track full of people that kicks up my pace into high gear. I love the feeling of catching up to someone, telling them they're doing a good job (not in a snooty or mean way!), then running past them. I don't know if it's my ego or what...but it feels good.
Turns out I've still got some speed in my legs. I don't know exactly what my pace was, but I think I caught the middle of the pack a few times, meaning I "lapped" a bunch of people. My mile pace was probably around 7 minutes per mile...I think. The soon-to-be police bowed out after a mile or so, and I continued for another mile and a half, because I was feeling good.
The best part was talking with people toward the back...I would slow up a little and talk with them...I tried to cheer them up and give some advice on how to maintain their speed at the end. The advice was appreciated, a few of the guys thanked me as they left the track.
So yeah...that was really fun, and now I'm enjoying a little runner's high. It feels good to get back into running, I just hope I can keep it up over the break. :-)
Posted at December 10, 2005 10:56 AM
Comments
Ok, being that this is California, my gym doesn't have an indoor track, but I asked about guest passes this morning and they'll give you one good for 2 weeks. Woo hoo--you can even see me do my water aerobics if you want!
Posted by: Mom at December 11, 2005 05:01 PM
I thought you were going to say that the police recruiter came and asked you if you wanted to join the force. Then I thought the story was going to end with you saying you have decided to drop out of school to be a po-po.
Posted by: S at February 5, 2006 03:29 PM