MY Run for Education
- Sankofa Academy
One thing everyone should fight for is a fair chance at a quality education for every child in this country. With education a major driving force in my life I’m always looking to combine things that interest and move me such as fitness and school. So after finding out about the Oakland Marathon I set out to see if they had a 5k and was there any way I could give back to the community while enhancing my own health at the same time. I quickly found out that they indeed had a 5k warm up the evening before the full marathon was to be ran March 26th. I had a few choices in fundraising but easily settled on Sankofa Academy which is a public elementary school in Oakland committed to student empowerment and academic achievement.Due to budget cuts, not only is Sankofa short on library books, but those they have are no longer current. As a runner for Team Sankofa, every dollar I raised helps them put new books on the library’s shelves. Having last ran a 5k race (3.1 miles) back in Februrary of 2010 at The Kiaser Permanante Marathon in San Francisco I was up for the challenge of not only
2010 SF Kiaser Permanante 5k
running the whole course but beating my personal best time of 29 min 09 sec. I didn’t really do any sort of hardcore training, but I did take my kids out to the track a few times to watch me run 2 miles so they had an understanding of what my goal was and why I was running. This time out even though I’m a year older I feel in better shape having been on the P90X workout for the last 25 days and running the East Bay trails on the weekends. Having found out about the event just 3 weeks before the race I didn’t get a chance to really promote my fundraising efforts besides blasting it out to friends and family on Facebook and twitter but something was better than nothing at all. With the race starting at 630pm I made sure I loaded up earlier in the day with carbohydrates to energize myself for race so I ended up going with cajun shrimp pasta from Applebees.
Cajun shrimp pasta
I made my way to the Expo center to pick up my race packet and check out some of the vendors that were on hand promoting running/fitness and health. I had already made up my mind about running the half marathon of 13 miles in July at the San Francisco Marathon in honor of my grandmothers battle with cancer I was even more motivated when I seen the medals you receive for completing one. I picked up my official 5k race shirt and even took a photo op with the winning trophy. With less than an hour till race time I actually became a bit nervous for what reasons I dont know.
I made sure I was hydrated enough so that I wouldnt fall out on the course and made my rounds of the normal stretches I do to ensure my muscles are ready. So the moment finally comes where all 888 participants line up with the faster people up front and the tourtoises in the back and needless to say I was in the middle. My plan was to go out fast for the first mile slow down the second and back to fast the last mile and while trying to keep pace with what looked like a 10 yr old girl and a 60+ year old man who ran with a limp. I was really impressed at the various types of people who came out to run in what is only the 2nd year for the Oakland Running Festival. One would think only people in top shape run these things when in reality kids from 6 to our seniors of 65 plus came out to participate. I started of really well going around those that werent at my pace and trying to find someone who might could push me to a faster time.
On Pace
I gassed out at about 2.5 miles and actually gave it a thought that I’d stop and walk for a minute but I overcame that mental lapse when I caught vision of the 3 mile marker then I kicked it in to overdrive and gave it all I had till I passed the finish line at a personal best time of 27 minutes and 16 seconds. After taking the whole experience in I certainly am hoping my little efforts not only inspire you all to get active but to get active for a reason. So many times we are caught up in our own small world we forget about those less fortunate than ourselves. The absolute gem of this whole experience was the letter I recieved from the Sankofa Academy kids thanking me for running for them and their chance to fulfill the task of learning to read.
Sankofa Letter
Now I have a whole four months to prepare to finish yes I said finish not run the whole half marathon in San Francisco. So be on the look out for updates onme training or even sneaking in another 5 k or 10k somewhere in the country. For more information on the Oakland Running Festival and Oakland Marathon please visit www.oaklandmarathon.com
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The ROYALE Life 