What? People do this to win things?

My first real 5K was at Lake Degray.  I say first "Real" because I had been in several 5K's in the past, but never had I ever thought of actually running the whole thing.  During those times, my idea of a 5K was a charity event.  Walking with your friends for an hour to raise some money and get a shirt.  I did not even know the pack of 50 to 150 people in the front of the pack of walkers, running to complete the course under 30 minutes even existed.

It began on Easter, 2004 I was at my cousins house for our annual Easter gathering and I told my cousin Steve I had started running, I told him my last run was 7 miles.  I had progressed to doing the Two rivers loop twice, then I moved my runs to a closer park into town and was doing 3.5 mile out n backs.  I did not really think much of this accomplishment. At this point, my objective was burning calories and eating a normal diet to maintain my weight.  I never, ever thought my running 7 miles was any great achievement.  Hist response was much to the contrary.... "7 Miles???!!!" he was ecstatic. He promptly invited me to the Dam Nite Run.  A 5K down the big hill at Lake Degray visitor center, and runs across the dam, then into a parking lot where there is a pot luck, party and tailgating.  It was a spectacle of a race with log trucks toting the runners from the parking area to the start area.  The crowd was a-buzz, I was chatting with my cousin, his girlfriend, her friends and we were having a great time. Then it all got silent.

I don't know if you have experienced this before, but the silence after a flurry of activity is always intense, like taking a big exam and the nervous energy that squelched into a focus on one task.  That is the kind of silence I noticed when the start gun went off and the runners focused their energy on one task.  The only sound for several seconds was footsteps.  All around me, it was the first time I had run in a crowd of people and the silence was incredible.  suddenly, yet slowly downed out by the sound of rubber soles padding on the asphalt.   The sound of running feet was all around me.  I was not sure what to do. ...well, I ran, of course, but beyond that ....just feet .