July 2008-Conquering the Brady Street Hill

I did my first Bix race this month. I figured the running race would give me something to focus on in-between tri’s. I’m not much of a runner and I had never run seven miles in my life.

That Friday I drove to Davenport and as I turned onto Brady Street, I saw the infamous Brady Street Hill for the first time. I’m sure my mouth dropped open. It looked like it went straight up. After getting my race packet I walked to the foot of the hill and stared at the street, wondering why I was doing this.

The next morning I found my spot in the “blue” section, one step ahead of the walkers. I thought about a shirt I had seen the day before that said “In my mind, I am a Kenyan.” Today I would run like those Kenyans who win the race every year (okay, I probably would not have a four-minute pace).

As the race started I watched the elite runners start up the hill. They got to the top of the hill and I was still standing there. We finally started walking towards the start line. I asked the person next to me, “We do get to run eventually, right?” I finally got to take on the Brady Street Hill, remembering that a friend told me to just look at my feet and not at the top of the hill.

The Brady Street Hill didn’t seem as tough as the hill I met after the turn-around point. This hill seemed to go on forever. At some point during miles five and six, I really wanted to stop and walk. That annoying coach in my head, though, said “we didn’t come here to walk.” I saw a giant blow-up Twinkie man. “If they are going to have a Twinkie blow-up, they need to have Twinkies,” I thought. Sure enough, there was a guy with a plate of Twinkies. As good as it sounded to me, I didn’t know if I should be consuming Twinkies at this point.

I wasn’t moving very fast, but I wasn’t walking, and as I turned back onto Brady Street, I knew I could do the seven miles. I saw a woman with a Super Soaker on top of a platform over the street and I motioned to her to squirt me. She didn’t get me very wet so a guy, who was handing out water, threw a whole glass of water on me!

As I headed down the hill, I just looked around, taking in the whole experience. The day before Randy Pausch had died. He was the college professor who, after finding out he was terminally ill, gave a speech (and later a book) called “The Last Lecture.” Randy said “brick walls in life are only there to separate those who really want to do something from those who just say they want to.”

I was going over (or at least around) my brick wall and accomplishing something I had never done before. Sometimes it can take you longer to get there, but you can reach your goals by putting one foot in front of another. Never stop tri-ing!