Today was the Running Room’s 20 Minute Challenge. All across Canada all RR locations held this event. We all got a nice hat just for attending. The point of the event is to encourage an active lifestyle among participants. The challenge is basically a route that should take 20 minutes on average. I had plans to get there early so that I wouldn’t get stuck trying to find an available parking spot. I did get there early, but man, a lot of people decided to do the same. I got a spot pretty far away. Given the nature of the event, I decided to just run in my work clothes–which today consisted of a white technical tee, a black golf shirt and cargo pants. I left my usual running gear at home. Ooh, I thought I wasn’t going to be alone in looking like I was just there to enjoy. I mean, it’s billed as a family event. Surely there should have been some people dressed for a stroll instead of a hard run. Umm…I was so wrong. Seriously. Everyone there was in their cool technical running gear. People were serious, man! Just about everyone that I knew asked me “are you not planning on running?” Inside I’m thinking “well yeah…why else would I be here?” Publicly I’d just state “I’m daring to be different.” Yeah, I figured that I wouldn’t get too sweaty. This, coming from someone that usually sweats buckets. And I was wearing two layers on top. Some people I suggested I just doff the golf shirt. Yeah…given that the technical shirt was white, I wasn’t in the mood to let my nipples guide the way. Plus, mom often said that it’s just rude to point.

A friend from the store decided to team up with me. Now, she’s accustomed to running with some speedy people, so I was surprised that she decided to stick with me. No matter how many disclaimers I gave her, she said that she’d go my pace. Well, she was aware of what my usual speed is. Since that’s what she wanted I just went along with it.

Well, starting out we could really only walk. The glut of people at the beginning was just too much. When it cleared we finally had the chance to take it to a light jog. My friend kept reminding me that she’d only go at my pace. I just agreed and kept a steady go. As the minutes passed, I felt the speed pick up little by little. I was actually sort of comfortable with the speed. I mean, I figured that twenty minutes was manageable. My mind was nudging myself along. Faster! Faster! Along the way I actually caught up with some swift people from my LTR class. As I snuck up from behind I just announced out loud that they were some speedy people. One of them reminded me: “I thought you said you were slow?” I couldn’t come up with anything witty, so I just replied “I am!” No kidding, I really am. Since he pointed it out, I just went at their pace, but again the back of my mind seemed to nudge me. Faster! Faster!

I started picking up the pace, getting a little bit ahead of the swift people. Suddenly all of them were sort of chasing me. My friend asked “Is this too fast? How are you feeling?” I had enough breath to reply “I’ll deal with it. I’m hanging in there.” Sure, it was getting difficult for me. I felt like I could keep it going for at least a little bit. Going around the pond, I knew what the route would be like. There’s a fork in the path where one goes to street level and takes you back to the store. The other part continues around a big pond. Assuming that we were heading back to store, I really just poured it on. Dual layers of clothing and sweating be damned, I wanted to finish strong. I was going at a rate where I felt like I was flying. I knew I could afford to run like that because the end was coming soon. Faster! Faster! Just as I reached the fork, there was the half marathon coach–the one who helped me out last year. I was ready to dash up to her right and end the run nicely. All well and good, except that she was pointing me to the left. The route was supposed to take us around the pond. Daaaaamn! That threw my plan off. From that point forward, the nudging voice in my mind suddenly ceased. Silence. Sort of feeling deflated, I just walked for about 50 metres to catch my breath. The people I passed caught up and zoomed by. I somehow managed to make it back to the store, but not before an extra walking interval or two. Yeah, sure, on average that run was way faster than my usual outings, but it could have been better! No matter, I guess.

Walking around the parking lot, I assessed my current situation. My golf shirt was actually not too bad. I was expecting a big massive sweat line, but I didn’t have one. At most, my golf shirt was just a little moist. My pants on the other hand felt strange. My legs were sweaty, but the cargo pants did nothing in terms of absorption. They just felt gross and damp. Even so, I still stayed relatively cooler than I thought I would be. I’m sure I got a few weird looks, but whatever: I had style.