Power Walking Grannies

I did my first 5K when I was at the College of Charleston my junior year. I was in a sorority, Chi Omega, and one of our philanthropic events was to participate in a 5K called Waves for Wishes. Although it was benefiting Make-a-Wish, an organization that is near and dear to my heart, I had no desire to wake up at 7:00 A.M. on a Saturday morning to participate in a 5K. So naturally, being that misery loves company, I enlisted my roommates to join me, which I must point out that my roommates were not part of my sorority and had no obligation to be up at the crack of dawn to participate in organized exercise, but being the good friends and good hearted people that they are (I still think what sealed the deal was the promise of breakfast at the end of the race as well as the chance to watch some athletic men run without their shirts on) they signed up for the race. Now let it be stated that I had no intentions of running this 5K, however, I never considered that by not running, or even power walking, that my roommates and I would come in just about last place. Seriously, we were passed by a power-walking grandma. My roommates and laughed it off, because here we were, three 20 year old girls, being lapped by someone at least triple our age. Next year we vowed that we would step up our game and at least power-walk. Well, the next year came around, and it came time for the annual Waves and Wishes 5K. As I did the previous year, I goaded my roommates to sign up with me, and once again they did. Well, this year, we were all 21, which meant that Friday nights were spent out at the bar, and being the naïve young people we were, we thought it would be no problem to wake up at 7:00 A.M. to do a 5K. Our rationale was that we would still be drunk from the night before and probably wouldn’t even remember participating in the event. Boy, were we in for a rude awakening. When we awoke that Saturday morning, the sun was shining full blast. I don’t know if any of you have been to Charleston, but the weather in September is about 75-80 degrees, which is wonderful if you are well-rested and going to the beach; when you are hungover and about to participate in a 5K, not so wonderful. Let’s just say our lofty goals of power-walking and beating our previous years time was immediately thrown out the window. I’m fairly certain that it took us an extra ten minutes to complete the 5K than it did the previous year. At that moment, I decided that 5Ks were not for me, those people were way too perky and energetic on a Saturday morning for me. Flash forward to this Sunday where I will be participating in a half-marathon. Let’s just hope this time I don’t get passed by a power walking grandma.