On July 31st, my friend Barry emailed me about running in the Nike Plus Human Race. I can't say my first reaction was overwhelming enthusiasm, although Kanye West as the post-race entertainment sounded pretty sweet. I'd never done a 10K before and the race was on a Sunday, so I thought I'd have to miss it since I work at a church. Two weeks later, my friend Dodi told me the race started at 8:31 p.m. I could do it! So, with two weeks to train, I registered for my first 10K!
It was pretty crazy to watch thousands of red-shirted men and women descend upon the grounds of the Los Angeles Coliseum. There were booths from Starbuck's and other concession stands, break-dancers performing, famous athletes like Lisa Leslie addressing the crowd, and great music pumping us up. After several trips to the bathroom, we made our way to the race line-up. There were signs starting with 12-minute mile+ and on down, so you could stand with people who'd be running your same pace. Our group settled in between the 8 and 9 minute milers.
A celebrity trainer warmed us up with some overhead stretches and fist-pumping. Randy Jackson (of American Idol) was the host and introduced Lisa Leslie (WNBA), along with superstar athletes Brandi Chastain (soccer), DeLisha Milton (WNBA), Sarah Reinerstein (I am in awe of her. She has a prosthetic leg and has completed multiple Ironman triathlons). Apparently, old and new cast members of the show 90210 ran the race, including Jason Priestly and Tiffani Amber Thiessen, although I didn't see them at all. My friend Meg had a little more luck with the celebrity sightings at the Austin leg of the Human Race. Check out her great post here http://www.spicymagnolia.com/spicy_magnolia/2008/09/a-perfect-weekend.html The race was incredible! They had mini-stages set up along the route with performers representing some of the cities that had hosted the race: capoiera dancers, a mariachi band, cancan dancers, etc. They let us run with our iPods too, so I was jamming with a list I put together that afternoon. You couldn't help but get swept up with the crowd.
The first four miles I had such a runner's high! I was literally thinking how this was one of the best nights of my life and going through other nights that might compare and ranking them accordingly. haha. Between miles 4 and 5, I came down from the euphoria a bit and started thinking about how my lower back was tightening up a bit and all my muscles were feeling tired. But I pushed through and I was thrilled with the result. My goal had been to finish in an hour, and I made it in 1:03. Woohoo! I actually felt like a runner, which was awesome. The only letdown was missing Kanye's performance at the end, because we were stuck in line at the bag check. Oh well! There will be more concerts and I still had an amazing time. Who wants to do the next 10K with me?
My Playlist
"I Feel Pretty" (West Side Story soundtrack)
"The Way I Are" (Timbaland)
"Unwritten" (Natasha Bedingfield)
"Suddenly I See" (KT Tunstall)
"Forever" (Chris Brown)
"American Boy" (Studio All-Stars)
"This is How We Do It" (Montell Jordan)
"Life is a Highway" (Rascall Flatts)
"Hip Hop Hooray" (Naughty by Nature)
"Hot Hot Hot" (Bina Mistry)
"Love Song" and "Many the Miles" (Sara Bareilles)
"Stronger" (Kanye West)
The video below gives you an idea of what running with over 12,000 people feels like. You can hear one of the bands along the route performing in the background...
