"Differential Diagnosis"

In martial arts, your skills are constantly challenged during friendly sparring matches against fellow classmates. During PT, the only way to assess my improvement was to compare myself to the other runners. Unfortunately, the same group of people don’t always attend PT due to various work obligations, schedule shifts, and leave. I wanted solid evidence of my improvement, but just wasn’t sure how to go about it.

The answer came to me in the form of an e-mail sent to my university address.  The university was requesting student volunteers for the 2nd annual 5k "Walk for Autism" in the next town over. This was just the challenge I needed to help push myself towards further improvement!

Along with my bi-weekly PT sessions, I began attending a yoga class, which helped slowly ease me back into my martial arts class. I then added a Sunday night run for good measure. On Sunday nights, I’d run exactly 5K (3.1 miles) and time myself. The numbers don’t lie, and after a few weeks, I began to notice improvement!

Of course, this sudden push for more and more physical fitness wasn’t all about improving myself. The situation between "that girl" (the one who initially inspired me to go to PT) and I had begun to deteriorate. I realized she wasn’t exactly who I thought she was, and I slowly began my retreat. The added physical fitness routines helped to fill in the gap she was leaving behind.

The day of the 5K, I woke up at 5am and began my drive to the next town over. Sunrise, something I hadn’t actually witnessed in years. Somehow, witnessing the sun slowly light up the horizon before me, infused me with energy. I wasn’t sure what the competition would be like. For all I knew, Olympian level runners would be there ready to compete, but I didn’t care! My goal was to finish with pride, whether in last place or in first.

Upon arrival, I checked in with the university team, "the Road Scholars," and began my assessments. Besides myself, my team consisted of several overweight women, and two slightly overweight males. None of them appeared to be in any kind of shape to run across campus, let alone a 5k!

I hate being right sometimes, it turns out the event was split into two separate events, the running 5K, and a 1 1/2 mile walk. The only 5K runners on the university team was one of the slightly overweight males and myself. This put even more pressure on me to perform well, not only was I representing myself, but I was now the best chance the "Road Scholars" had of placing well in the run.

I began to pace back and forth while scoping out my competition. Only a select few actually stood out amongst the crowd, an incredibly thin & tall middle aged man wearing tiny running shorts, ten or so sporty looking girls wearing their track team shirts, several military looking guys doing stretches. Those folks would probably be my biggest competition I thought.

That’s when I saw her…a gorgeous young blonde about my age, approaching our team, wearing our school colors. I immediately walked over and introduced myself. We had about two hours before the race began, and for those two hours, I was in complete bliss chatting with her.

We walked all over campus with out a care in the world, we shared stories of love and loss, and were amazed at how much we had in common. It’s almost as if this girl and I had known each other for ages! This was exactly the type of girl I’ve dreamed of meeting, but thought to not exist. How amazing that this outstanding female specimen was only a few hours drive from my hometown.  My faith in women was restored in those two hours!

Then, the announcement was made. "Runners to the starting line, we’re about to begin!" "Guess that means you, good luck. I’ll be cheering for you!" She told me as I walked away with a stupid grin on my face. At this point, the race itself didn’t matter. I could trip, fall, and eat a face full of gravel, and still I’d be happily smiling.

I took my place at the starting line, the gun was fired, and we were off! Immediately, the thin & tall middle aged man I noticed earlier galloped past me at superhuman speed, followed by two military looking men, and a several of the track team girls. "Slow and steady wins the race," I told myself as the distance between the leaders and myself grew. I turned back and saw a good majority of the other runners way behind me. "Good, I’m sticking to this pace and I’ll catch the others on the second lap."

At the middle of the first lap out of three, I managed to pass several of the track team girls and found myself next to the two military looking men. As soon as they became aware of my presence, they hastened their pace a bit. "Oh no! I can PT with the best of you guys!" I thought to myself as I sped up to their pace.

At this point, the walking portion of the event had begun and the runners had to dodge the walking folks as we began our 2nd lap. It was here where I heard her yell my name, followed by, "you’re doing great!" Her encouragement boosted my spirit and I managed to leave the two military men several yards behind me.

Midway through our third and final lap, my legs were burning, my breath was struggling, and my pace was dwindling. My sudden boost in speed as a result of her encouragement earlier seemed to have overtaxed my endurance.

The two military men managed to catch up and pass me, followed by two other men who had been trailing closer and closer to me the entire event. As I crossed the finish line gasping for air, I was informed I had placed 6th out of 29. "Not bad."

Moments later, the girl came up and gave me a congratulatory hug. I was hoping to spend the rest of the afternoon getting to know her better, but she was expected in Austin in a few hours. We walked to her car together, where she put her contact information into my phone, and mine into hers.

Unfortunately, that’s when the bomb was dropped. She had a boyfriend, one she didn’t care to mention hours before.

I probably should have been upset, but I wasn’t. Merely knowing that a girl like that truly exists somewhere in the world, I was happy. Her contact info has since been deleted from my phone, but this exhausting physical challenge turned out to be a re-energizing venture. It was just the thing I needed to keep my spirits high.

1. ScoMan says:

   December 7, 2009 at 1:28 am

   You do something for charity and you have a great day and your spirits are lifted. I think that’s what they call “karma”.

   Or maybe it’s what they call “fate”, “destiny” or “coincidence”.. I guess it depends who you ask.

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2. OmegaRadium says:

   December 7, 2009 at 12:32 pm

   No matter what it’s called, I’m glad it happened…I was feeling as if it were slightly overdue.

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3. floreta says:

   December 9, 2009 at 12:56 am

   i remember you tweeting this but i didn’t realize a girl was involved. what a great day! even if it was single serving. i think sometimes those teach as a lot more than we typically give credit.

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4. MinD says:

   December 15, 2009 at 10:27 am

   What a bummer. On the up side, at least she mentioned it after two hours rather than two days/weeks/months… Right?

   Congrats on the 5K. I never could’ve done that. And sixth? Damn. Very nice.

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