The second annual indoor 5k

This past Saturday - on Leap Day, no less - we hosted the 2nd Annual Indoor 5k at my place of employ. It went from 6 am to noon, and participants signed up for an hour time slot on either a treadmill or elliptical.

Last year we had 54 participants - which exceeded my expectations. This year we increased it to 71 participants, and raised over $1700 towards the Y's Annual Campaign. I was positively shocked with the turnout. Though I have some serious questions about the income/expense report for this event.

The way it works is: registration is $25, and you get an event shirt, plus a chance to win a cash prize. We don't base prizes on the fastest time, but rather, one random person is selected from each of 5 time categories (under 20 minutes, 20:01-25, 25:01-30, 30:01-35, and over 35 minutes). These people received a $25 gift card. Then we also selected a random overall prize winner for a $100 gift card. Ironically, it was an "over 35 min." participant who won the $100.

Prizes are selected this way for two main reasons: (1) There is a safety factor of not wanting people to try to run 'too fast' on a treadmill; (2) We are also simply trying to encourage participation, rather than skill. The largest time category is the "over 35 min" crowd... with a lot of people coming in closer to a full hour. For a number of people, simply walking 3.1 miles seemed unrealistic before this event. One particular participant was ecstatic that she improved from 63 minutes last year to 59 minutes this year. These are the only two times she has walked that far!

Personally, this is one of the few days I like going to work. It's the ONLY time I actually get to do something, and feel like a contributing member of the Y team. Every other day all I'm expected to do is sit at the front desk with my thumb up my butt and just not cause problems. But this event is mine! It was my idea, and I had to put up a fight to be able to organize and run it again this year. [Side note: THIS is the reason I got drunk the night before my last marathon and almost killed myself running it.] I am totally pumped about this event, mostly because it's the only thing I get to do. It's the only day of work where I get to have a say, rather than do meaningless little odd jobs for my boss.

As long as I'm talking personal stuff here... my boss really has a way of draining positive energy from me. In trying to make up for trying to take credit for the whole event, he has gone overboard in thanking me and recognizing my contributions. So much so that it... it cheapens the whole thing. It's really patronizing, and I hate that. Like, I don't WANT recognition for being able to do this one thing! I would LIKE to be thought capable of doing more than just this! I would LIKE to think I could contribute in OTHER ways! Why can't this just be one of the things I do? I don't know if my boss is threatened by that, or if he really just doesn't get that anyone other than him can do anything. He has such a "dad" mentality, and thinks of everyone else as children. Totally annoying for this 57 year old.

Anyway, it was a great time, and I was very happy with how things turned out once again. So, I'll just leave it at that. Oh, and finish times... the fastest time was 18:17. That was the only one under 20 minutes this year (last year there were like 5 people under 20). I ran a 29:22. That was more than 2 minutes slower than my time last year, but it was waaaaay faster than I thought I would be able to run this year, what with the injury and lack of conditioning and all.

So, another Indoor 5k is in the books. If I can make it another year working here, I guess now I've got 11+ months of my thumb up my butt to get used to again...