the run (and run dmc)

Whew.

I made a 24:08 time on my 5K Homecoming Race today. That's an improvement of about 20 seconds over my time last week! Be happy. These small shavings of time mean a lot. Just watch the Olympics. Every little bit counts, especially when you're as unserious about running as I am!

I was #102 in the men's division. I think there were about 400 participants in my group. By my estimation, the top 25% is not that bad, especially since I'm relatively new to competition. (This is my third.)

We were raising some much-needed funds for the Louisiana State University Library system. The Bengal Belles, a civic group composed mostly of coach's wives, organized the soiree.

I was impressed with the prizes. The winner in each category got a football jersey signed by every member of the football team. (I guess that would be worth more than a dustrag to most people, but not me.) If by some odd quirk of fate I HAD won it, I guess I could use it for a costume or something...

The guys in the race were built like human physiology charts. They were so physically perfect that I couldn't help but stare. You know those guys that are professional sport models that have PERFECT abdominals and pecs? That's what most of the guys at the race looked like. (I felt so flat-chested among them!)

To compensate for my lack of physical prowess, I wore my Banana Cafe rainbow shirt. I got this little number from my favorite gay spot in Paris, the Beauborg. It's the cute little area around the modern art museum. Fabulous cafe and a fabulous little shirt. But nobody noticed it or commented on it... I suppose that the 400 people happened to be either str8 or not very outgoing. :( Oh well, maybe I'll meet up with a friendly lesbian next time. It's always nice to meet folks after the race... after I catch my breath.

I lunched on jambalaya (a Louisiana rice dish, for those of you unfortunate enough to have never tried it). It was a fine meal.

For dessert, I brought home about 3 pounds of bananas (leftovers) and a pound of Australian oranges. That's about as close as I'll get to the Olympic games, I suppose.

Oh, as a side note, I had a great picnic last night with some friends from school, work and play. I met with eight people to go to the university pep rally.

The pep rally included a bonfire (watch out!), a bunch of screaming sorority girls (cookie-cutter blondes with irritating cheers) and Run DMC (80s rap group that went platinum).

The girls, Jane and Lori had a good time at the event. I met April, a new arrival from California. Doug and Nick just had a good time. (Most impressive: Doug's thrill-a-minute hip hop stylings! No wonder he's known as "Doug E. Fresh!")

I got to dance with Jane and Lori, who showed amazing versatility in the hip hop dancing category. And I snacked on Cadbury Picnic chocolates, another Aussie import, bought by a friend's sister who just came back from down under last week.

While there, I ran into some old pals from high school. I was happy to hear that they'd just gotten an RV and planned to "tailgate" tomorrow at the game. (Tailgating is basically sitting outside before a football game to drink, bar-be-cue and hang out.) I guess the best part about seeing them was seeing how well they're doing and how sweet they were when they realized we went to school together. I had to refuse offers of beer several times before they relented. (It's a shame, too. I would've had a great time drinking with them, but I had a race to run this morning!)

And what a race it was. It was the first race that I've been in that had sun, rain and 100% humidity. It was so humid that I was sweating the moment I left the apartment at 6 in the morning. Ouch. That's slap-yo-mama bad weather for a race. The crazy part is that the rain didn't cool things down at all, it just made everything extra slippery.

I guess that the upside to all of this is that if I can make a 24:08 with these crack-addict conditions, I should do swimmingly this fall when we get more clement racing day weather!