Published: August 13, 2008 05:19 pm            

Land Minds: Got the shoes; only 10 miles to go

Originally published in the August 8, 2008, print edition.

On July 18, I won the lottery.

Not the kind where you receive an oversized cardboard check at a fancy televised press conference, and you’re quoted as saying such classic, naive lottery winner statements as “I’m not leaving my job” and “This won’t change me or my relationship with friends and family.”

No, I’m talking about winning the running lottery — my name was among those chosen to run in the Twin Cities 10 Mile on Oct. 5, 45 minutes prior to the start of the Twin Cities Marathon. While some of you may believe that I actually lost when my name was picked, I was ecstatic. Ten miles will be the furthest I have ever run, and will probably be the most nerve-wrecking thing I’ve ever done, other than giving birth twice.

My sister-in-law and I are running this together, and we have been motivating each other to get in race shape by hitting the pavement or, in her case, hitting the gravel. Either way we are bound and determined to finish this race.

I should do well; I certainly have all the necessary equipment to make me look like a serious running machine. I recently celebrated my birthday, and family members bestowed numerous running accessory gifts onto me.

I have a new pair of running shoes, some much-too-short running shorts that I’ll be saving for when my legs shrink or I run out of all other non-Daisy Duke shorts and, of course, the all-important running stopwatch.

I have witnessed enough races to know that you’d better have a stopwatch on and be ready to hit the start button the moment that gun goes off, if for no other reason than to give those around you the impression that you know what the heck you’re doing.

I know that when I start my race in October I’ll not be out in front with the elite athletes, like those freakishly fast Kenyans. No, you’ll find me toward the back of the pack, with others like me who’ll be thinking to themselves, “What the heck was I thinking?” and “Is there a Caribou Coffee place somewhere I can hide out in instead of doing this crazy thing?”

Despite my concerns about the Twin Cities 10 Mile, I do plan on running it and, more importantly, I plan on finishing it.

So as I hit the streets of New Ulm, and my sister-in-law runs past the corn and bean fields near Dodge Center, we will stride with our heads held high knowing that we are, indeed, lottery winners.

By the way, our team name is the Krazy Kvenos. Happy running!

        

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