Runners are obsessed with statistics: split times, negative
split times, mileage, and pace. Looking at my physique, I’m sure a lot of people
think the only “pace” I’m interested in is the picante sauce. Though it is one of
nature’s most perfect foods, I am indeed concerned about the other one, and I
crunch the numbers like everyone else. While
I used to keep a more detailed training log, these days I leave it up to my
second Garmin to do that for me.
Instead, I log more fun stats. I finally sat down and totaled
my number of races since 2009. To the best of my knowledge, I’m at 155 right
now, including 13 half-marathons. Due to the fact that I have worry-wart,
elderly parents, I try to confine my racing to counties that border my own (it
doesn’t hurt that I live in the biggest county in Wisconsin!) While one of my
friends doesn’t believe me, I can show him that yes indeed, most are within
that radius. Out of 44 races so far this year, only 11 have been “outside the lines,” and most of
those were within 2 hours of home.
I also keep track of the charities that I run for. Granted,
some races are for profit, but I still enjoy the ones that are going to a good
cause. This past weekend, I ran to help
the tuition assistance fund at a local Lutheran high school, and also did Lacey’s
Run, which gives scholarships to people without insurance fighting cancer. This
year I did a “virtual” run for Paul Newman’s camps for kids with cancer, ran to
help preserve part of the Ice Age Trail, and hoofed it for high school sports
teams, and fire departments. Sometimes I
wonder if I do too many races, but I really do enjoy that aspect of it, and it’s
time and money I’m not spending in a thrift store (though I still partake in
moderation.)
While hearing the words “Boston” and “New York” make runners’ hearts beat a little faster, I am a
small town woman, and my race roster reflects this. Of all the towns I’ve ever
raced in, only 14 of them have a population over 12,000. The two smallest,
Navarino and Mt. Morris are unincorporated. The next on the list is Eland at
251, an old railroad town where the postmistress once took my water bottle home
to fill from her own well (and brought me back a cookie too!) Next is tiny
White Lake at 329 souls, then Withee to the west at 508. On the other end of
the scale, the largest is nowhere near NYC in population: St. Paul, Minnesota
at 288,488. Maybe someday I will cross the start line in a big metropolis, but
for right now, the eastern Twin City will have to do.
Maybe these are not the most competitive statistics you’ve
ever seen, but they’re one of the big reasons I run.
