A Life Less Sedentary

Long-time blog readers have noted the relative absence of Ken, my writing partner. Ken's been busy with a number of different things, some of them outdoors and away from the computer. His personal blog, "Milestones" chronicles his training regime as he prepares for the Boston Marathon.

And he's also become my coach as well. He's inspired me to become more active, and after about a half century of relative inactivity, I took to the roads this year, preparing for the Charlottesville Men's 4 Miler.

So how did I do? I didn't come in last (although at 1:08:28 it was close). Ken kept stressing that for this race, personal performance was what counted, and he was right. I walked rather than ran most of the four miles, but I did keep up a good pace (for me), and although the runners in the 80-year-old and up class left me in the dust within the first quarter mile (as did everyone else), it didn't matter.

And it didn't seem to matter to either the other runners or the folks along the course. Everyone was encouraging, and everyone seemed appreciative that even though I was the cow's tail for most of the race, I was still hanging in there.

So what next? I'll start in next week working towards the next race. Can I get down to a 15-minute mile? We'll see. It's certainly something to shoot for. I've got a lot of lost time to make up (several years worth, at least)!

- Ralph

Day 169 of the WJMA Web Watch.