The race on my Sunday

I am a godless woman.

Source

A godless, godless woman who seemingly would run into the arms of Lucifer himself if she could just have one thing: a local race on a Sunday.

We have what I consider to be a thriving running community for the size city and part of the country I am in. You could race every weekend, multiple times, if you wanted to.

And Mark has been dying to do just one. He has increased his mileage this summer (training with me) and wants to test his speed at a 10K, preferably, or a 5K. When he shared this with me, I promised to be his Sherpa and baby wrangler. Miles and I would make signs, cheer and give sweaty kisses (Miles, not me).

Just one thing: It had to work around BODYPUMP.

BODYPUMP, though, is at 8:45 Saturday morning, thus ruling out most races. I have accepted that this new direction in my ... career? ... life? ... fitness? ... would affect my racing schedule but now it's affecting Mark's. And my fitness endeavors more than affect his life - they nearly dominate it the way they do mine. I owe him this 10K.

I am determined to find something for him that doesn't involve selling my soul or becoming a race director. (I'm saving the latter for a race with Team Sparkle skirts and girlfriends.)

The options:

Boring Runner's "Sweat Your Thorns Off" 5K. It is on a Saturday but you do it in your own time, and Mark could easily knock this out at 7 a.m. I've officially "registered" for this as it's free and will make me certifiably cool but it does lack the competitors within reach that drive Mark to run faster.


Put in some miles. Fort Wayne might be the city of churches but there might be some other places that aren't so holy. I found a couple of great races for September that would be a bit of a drive but are in places that we like to visit. I'm totally in love with this Tower Run 8K in Michigan City. It's an affordable race in a pretty area of Indiana, along the lake, and there's outlet shops and a casino to make it worth the trip. Just putting it out there.

Send Miles to Camp Grandma. Mark might have to sherpa himself but he could have his own race and I could do BODYPUMP, pick up Miles and treat my AG winner to breakfast.

Trade BODYPUMP classes. I'm filling in for the instructor next week, and I'm sure he'd be happy to take one for me, too.

RACECATION! While driving an hour or two for a race is one thing, a racecation is a whole other beast. It's more than likely not in the budget - especially as I'm drooling over the idea of running Portland next year - and we would have to do it before school starts. But it is an option. There's a good number of races in the Chicago area, and I would love to do something in Tennessee. (Hi, Michelle!)

Of course, there's always the "Who cares about you? I'm the runner in this family" option.

Hmm. So many choices, which one to choose ...