Have I got a long way to run?

I’m going to tell you a story. A story about a girl named PJ and her quest to become a runner.

The story begins about a year ago, but if I were to tell you all about that, you would be incredibly bored. Let’s focus on one day in particular – Saturday, 19th April 2008. This is the day that PJ finished a 5k in less than 29 minutes.

PJ was encouraged by her company to participate in the 5k as part of the Corporate Challenge. For four months she trained. She upped her running time. She upped her running distance. She even went three whole weeks without using chocolate.

The morning of the race, PJ was completely refreshed. She had slept excellently the night before in her sleep number bed (40). PJ wanted to be early for the race, in case something happened. She hates being late.

She got up and got dressed, pulled her hair back, brushed her teeth, and made sure she had her bib. It was still dark when she and Gabby left their hotel.

The race started at 7:30am. She ran at a fairly quick pace. She felt really good her first mile. The second mile was a little more difficult, but doable. The third mile did not go as well. Gabby kind of slowed her pace down, so PJ was forced to as well. PJ thought it was better, though. She had been wondering during most of the latter part of mile 2 when it was going to end. She was starting to worry she was not going to make it through mile 3. And to top it all off, she lost her headband.

When they got into the finishing chute with people cheering and holding signs, she felt refreshed. Then she noticed that Gabby, who had been lagging, was ahead of her a little. So she said, “Ready?” and off went Gabby. PJ knows she can’t match Gabby in a sprint, but she was pumping her legs just as quickly as she could. As they drew to the finish line, PJ was about even with Gabby. The results (http://www.racecenter.com/results/2008/slc5k08.htm) proved that she had kept up. They had both finished at 28:51 taking 707th and 710th places. They finished in the top 25th percentile of 3,020 runners/walkers/jugglers/superheroes.

As she has been scouring the results today, PJ notices that she beat most of the people in her company. That gives her a little surge of pride. PJ was also informed that of the companies participating in the Corporate Challenge, 4Life had the most sign-ups.

PJ wants to say congratulations to Gabby for a hard-fought victory. Rematch?

She also wants to congratulate everyone who completed an event on Saturday. Way to go!