Sunday, December 14, 20089:00 AM, Austin, Texas
http://mychiptime.com/searchevent.php?id=3441
My Goal:
- Wanted: under 19:57 minutes
- Did: 20:54
- Overall: 40 / 555
- Gender: 30 / 247
- Division: 3 / 28
Out Youth is a non-profit organization whose mission is to support and provide services to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth ages 12 to 19 in Austin and Central Texas.As Mark, so very well put it, "you don't have to have cancer to raise money for it". I'm not gay but in this day and age, we all probably know someone who is gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender and if you don't then you will very shortly. And you won't just know them, they will be a good friend of yours. It's nice to know that there is a place out there that helps confused teenagers accept their sexuality and I was glad to help the cause in any way I could. This time it meant running in a speedo!
There were somewhere between 2,000 - 4,000 people out for the Trail of Lights 5k this year! There were a lot of great costumes: people wrapped head-to-toe in christmas lights, Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus and elves but nothing could beat the santa speedo runners! In addition to my red speedo and santa hat, I brought along some green, battery powered, christmas lights and two lighted ornaments. I figured, why not up the humility and draw even more attention to myself!? I wrapped the lights around my torso, tucked in the battery pack and hung the ornaments from my speedo.
In total, there were around 20 people running in speedos and it was a blast! My ornaments broke off, from my speedo, as soon as I started running but the christmas lights stayed on for the entire run. I was a little worried about the battery pack, for the christmas lights, since it rested precariously close to my cojones. Sweating too much could have been quite the shock! I received a lot of cheers from the crowds and I had no less than three women yell out "you can be the light of my life"! I might have to run in a speedo more often...
This race wasn't timed but I finished somewhere in the top 50. I know this because they were giving awards to the first 50 finishers and I received a hat when I crossed the finish line. What a fun race and I was glad to help out a great cause! I look forward to running in it next year!
The Jingle Bell 5k was the following morning and I was still feeling tired from the speedo run and the wind was blowing fiercely. This was a timed race so I was trying to beat my Brown Santa time of 19:57 but didn't feel like I would be setting any new PRs this morning. I tried working my way to the front but people were too tightly packed and I couldn't get close to the starting line. When the whistle blew I was juking my way through the crowd avoiding walkers and people with strollers. I danced my way through the maze of people and soon I was able to settle into a speedy pace but I lost a good chunk of time there. The wind also proved to be a rough obstacle as at one point, on a long stretch of road, we were running head-long into it. Despite the wind I was knocking out a steady pace and soon the finish line was in sight!
Up ahead of me was a kid, who couldn't have been older than 11, blazing down the course. I had been catching up to him but he decided to sprint, for the finish, at the same time I did. Some people on the sidelines were cheering him on but a few of the rabble-rousers were yelling "Are you going to let that kid beat you?" at me! Well... yes... NOOO! He was now gaining ground on me! I summoned up every ounce of speed I had left but it was no use, he matched my speed an then laughed at it! Who the hell was this kid! My legs are longer than his... he is breaking the laws of physics by running faster than me! Convinced, now, that he must be some freak of nature I accepted defeat.
I crossed the finish line at 20:54, good enough for third place in my age group! I didn't beat my previous 5k time and I got smoked by an 11 year old, freak of nature, but getting third place helped make up for it!
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