I ran my first 10K race this morning. The longer routes I take for exercise vary between five-and-a-half and seven miles; the distance wasn’t difficult. My time was unremarkable except that my pace was as steady—just less than nine minutes per mile—when I finished as when I began.

The turnaround for the 10K was just down the street from our house, and Kathy was outside when I ran by. Nearby the Republican party volunteered to pass out water, and they campaigned, shouting “Hustle for Nussle,” at runners as they passed. Kathy said one runner shouted at them, “This is the Run for the Schools! Explain ‘No Child Left Behind’!” I wish I had been so witty.

For almost half the race the 5K and the 10K ran together, and there were a lot of kids running the 5K. It reminded me of when I ran the MADD Dash in Hometown, Arkansas. I was a shapeless kid: reading was my thing, but my grandmother was the MADD chapter president and in a special way she has, she leaned on my cousin and me to run. My cousin was always an athlete, and he finished well before I did, which wasn’t hard, because I finished dead last except for two old ladies who held back for my sake. It wasn’t until college, when Hermit Chris and I would meet at six o’clock summer mornings to jog in his neighborhood, that I discovered I liked the constance of movement, the wandering of mind, the presence of self that I get from a good run. It’s still what I like about it, which is why I’ve never been tempted by running a race. Since that summer, though, I’ve always run alone.

Nevertheless, I had fun today. I might do it again. When photos are available online, if there are any with me in them and you want to see them, I’ll post a link.

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