"We're doing the Dempsey Challenge 5k. Why don't you join our team?"
"I don't run."
"You can walk it. Just come and 'train with us'"
"Each lap is a quarter of a mile," she had said- and as we came around the corner for the 4th time she said we were at almost 45 mins. "I want to get to that stop sign before 45 mins" she said- and - I took off running.
Something just didn't seem right. I mean I knew I was out of shape but a mile in 45 minutes? That just didn't seem right. That night I thought about it. I made a plan and a promise. If she had been wrong about the measurement of the block then I would sign up for the 5k... she was. Each lap was a half a mile. I went to class an hour later. "Hey," I said-" signed up for the 5k". There was a gleam of happiness in her eyes and her hug reassured me that I could do it. And so it began. There was no more walking. Each night we ran a little bit further and by the time she left for her 3 week vacation we were up to almost a half mile without stopping.
Now I had something to prove. And the running kept happening almost every day with the help of her partner in crime. We met and ran. I wanted to be able to 'run' 3 miles by the time she got home. Sometime we ran in the early morning-other times after class. By the time she got back I was running a 5k (now the time wasn't great but it was continuous).
The training didn't stop there. We kept running and running some more. Two days prior to the race we even ran a portion of the course to get familiar with it. We got matching shirt and were ready to rock it out. Race day came so fast. It was freezing. We were waring layers upon layers of clothing. I don't know that I had slept the night before and I was feeling a pure adrenaline rush. We ran the whole time (minus my shoe coming untied at the 2.5 mile mark). The last fourth of a mile was uphill and I didn't think I could do it. In fact I think I said, "I can't do it," and they responded with, "yes you can." A flood of emotions came over me as we reached the last 500 feet or so. There were my mom and dad. We ran right past them and all of a sudden I didn't want to stop running anymore.
Bonus? We got to meet Mr. Dempsey himself.
Our next 5k was bigger and better. A team of 30 plus took on the Fit at 5 5k the following year. There were people who said-I can't do it. I looked right at them and said-" a I said the same thing once- and you can,"-and-we did. Every single one of us finished. I walked most of the race with 2 team mates-running the last mile after others had run back to meet us-then ran back. The whole team got together and finished with our two team mates. We cried tears of joy that we had completed such a feat. You see, as a wise lady and fearless leader says: We can because we do-AHK In fact we finished the fit at 5k tis year again as a team of 35. Walk or run we finish as one.
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