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Tar Heel 10 Miler
We say this every year, and yet every year we run the Tar Heel 10 Miler. It's iconic for Chapel Hill fans who run. The course runs through campus and hits up highlights like Franklin Street, the Old Well, the bell tower, and the stadium. But as a fellow runner around mile 4 quipped, "Well they sure don't call it Chapel FLAT!"
I wasn't exactly looking forward to the Tar Heel 10 Miler on Saturday. It's a beautiful run past the highlights of Chapel Hill but gosh is the course agony! I never seem to focus and prepare for it mentally and emotionally: I was preoccupied by training for my spring half marathons last year and this year and didn't properly prep for the hills and do the 10 Miler justice. But all my friends run it, as do coworkers and acquaintances and (almost) family and people I know from college but haven't seen in years and fellow Fleet Feet training program members. And did I mention it's in gorgeous Chapel Hill?!
Remember how my coworkers are awesome and get involved in the community? Yeah, they went and did it again. The Tar Heel 10 Miler was this weekend and somehow we won our company category for the "FITTEST" company award.
Everyone has a reason for why they do the things they do - why they hike or run or swim or bike or whatever. Some reasons are more simplistic than others: "for my health" or "it's something I can do with my sister" or "to decompress" or whatever easily-defined unique reason there may be. Some are more complicated: "to face the void" or maybe even to slowly untangle the "why" itself. Some reasons are downright agony on your heartstrings.
On Sunday night after the US Olympic Marathon Trials, some painful first aid for a soccer injury, and a long blog-writing session, I stared at the computer screen, trying to disengage and get ready or bed. It's never easy to shut down, to quit for the day, and I found myself aimlessly clicking through email - deleting promos, ignoring reminders, and skipping over other junk. But suddenly something caught my eye: a final reminder for some swag if I register for a local race. Oh man. Register for the race! It wasn't that I needed the swag exactly (though who can resist an ultra-soft running tee with a cute design?), but rather it reminded me that I wasn't registered for a spring race yet. I'd run the Krispy Kreme Challenge, sure, but that's more "fun run" than PR-seeking race. I checked my calendar and then checked it again. I knew the races some of my friends had planned, and there was still time to train for those events.
