When you have arthritis your joints click and pop with every movement. Sometimes, if I'm walking through the quiet house I can hear the creek of my knees echo through the silence. Often rolling over in bed is an accomplishment because it feels as if my muscles weigh 5,000 pounds.
This year I've tried to get back into running. It's been a long journey. After an extraordinary injury like the one I had last December 6th it takes a long time for the scars to heal. It seems as if it's 2 steps forward, 2 steps back. This year it was important for me to attempt to run in the Arthritis Foundation's Jingle Bell Run. The Michigan chapter puts on the race in West Bloomfield and offers a 10K race as well. I really wanted to do the 10K. 10K is MY distance. I own the 10K.
The competition was tough...surely these people weren't living and running with arthritis. I wanted to call it quits at the 5K point. No one would fault me for just pulling into the finish line right?! I completed the first loop (3.2 miles) in 31 minutes. 31 minutes isn't too far off my best time of 27 minutes but still....
I turned the looped and headed back out on the course to face the challenges again. The competition dwindled...most normal people feel accomplished at 5K and move on. It's only the hardcore people with something to prove who carry on for another 5K. Now it's just me and the pavement. This is when it becomes a mental game...don't let anyone pass you, no! Not the slightly overweight mom pushing two kids in a stroller (who were screaming so loud I could hear them through my blaring ipod)...yes, I'm pretty sure she passed me uphill. But, I'm sure that her kids screaming was the motivation she needed to run faster and cross the finish line asap.
Now, it's just me and the old couple and the two chicks in fun holiday skirts within sight. God, can't I please just outlap the 5K walkers....yes! There they are up ahead. Shew! I managed to outlap the 5k finishers who were coming in at the 1 hour mark. I finished the 10K course in 1:07:46. About 9 minutes slower than my best time ever. But, technically 1 minute faster than my last 10K race in May.
I didn't earn any medals this time. I think there should have been a special category for people running WITH arthritis. And coming in 10th from the end is no great glory. But, I always make myself feel better in the knowledge that if I had stopped at the 5K point I would have just been another average runner with an average time. Yet, instead I decided to be a superstar (in my own mind).
Happy running. Remember...the faster you run, the faster you're done.
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