Sunday is Number Four

This Sunday, April 15, I will be running the "5th Annual 5K Race to Keep Kids Safe." The race is planned to benefit SASS (Sexual Assault Support Services), an organization which apparently gives support and counseling to children who have been victims of child sexual abuse, and their families. This is an incredibly good cause, but before I take too much credit for participating in this laudable event, I should admit that SASS is not the reason I'm running this race. The reason I'm running this race, is that it's in Portsmouth, NH.

NH makes four.

Slightly over a year ago, I ran more than a mile successfully for probably the first time in my life. The previous fall, I was still getting so winded around the half-mile mark that I'd have to stop and walk. But somehow, after a winter of doing my Wii Fit Plus's "free run" (running in place in front of the TV) for 30 minutes a day, I found that I could run 2 1/2 miles quite easily.

Me being me, next thing I did was to sign up for my first 5K.

On June 11, 2011, I ran the Gaspee 5K in Pawtuxet Village (Cranston/Warwick), RI, finishing my first race in 26:59.4, which was good enough for 397th place out of 918 overall, 54th out of 205 in my class. I was thrilled: I honestly had just wanted to run the whole thing, and finish preferably not last. I could really do this running thing! Never going to be an olympian or anything, but I could walk tall and say, "yeah, I'm a runner."

I must have, as they say, gotten the bug or something. Because when my mom presented me about a week later with a registration form for a race in my hometown in Massachusetts, I only hesitated slightly before signing up. Sure, 5 miles is 60% longer than 5 km, but I could do it, right?

Right. July 2, 2011: 46:29, 42nd out of 64, 2nd out of 4 in my class. (There was a 1 mile event, too, which tended to limit the 5 mile event to the more serious runners. And, you know, me.)

Me being me, I decided two races in two states needed to be the beginning of a bigger trend. I remembered my godmother mentioning a 10K race in South Freeport, ME, and thought I'd check it out. Turns out it was two days later, and that was slightly short notice for adding another 1.2 miles to my endurance.

But, there was another one coming up in November! You guessed it: the 30th Annual Great Osprey 10K, Saturday, November 5, 2011. 1:00:31, 211th out of 291 overall (never found out my place in my class, although I suppose I could count if I were really determined).

Well, at that point, as the Starks say, winter was coming. And now as spring approaches again, even in fits and starts as it is choosing to do this year, it's time to pick up where I left off: 3 states down, 47 to go.

I've completed official races in three states: RI, MA and ME. Lord willing and the creeks don't rise, I hope to be in good enough health to run for many years to come. That's plenty of time to knock off the rest.

This Sunday? I'm making it 4 down, 46 to go.

Also on the docket for 2012: CT, CA, OR, VT and TN. In that order. But don't let me get ahead of myself. I'll tell you all about those races as they get closer.