National Press Club 5K

Just thought I'd throw this photo out there as record of the fabulous AARP team that took part in the 12th Annual National Press Club 5K. The team consisted of myself, Kim Keister, Marlece Lusk-Karamitsos and Tina Johnson-Marcel (not pictured).

The race took place in downtown DC on Saturday, Sept. 12th, with a course taking us down Pennsylvania Ave. towards the Capitol Building, Union Station and back. It's been about two months since I really got into running, so I was anxious to see if I could improve on my personal best time. And wouldn't ya know it, I killed it by about 3 minutes. I finished the race, according to my clock, at 24.53 minutes with a pace of 8.01 minutes per mile. I can definitely be happy with that. Of course I'd love to get my time down to the 21 minute range, but at-least I'm making some progress.

On a side note, the race actually had an interesting twist that made for a colorful run. The 9-12 Project was hosting their protest of big government, socialism and nationalized health care. They lined up at Freedom Plaza, which was right at the start and finish of the race. As we came around the corner to start and on the way back, we were cheered on by thousands of protesters. They lined the streets and made a nice path for the runners to go through. Honestly, it felt like I was finishing the New York Marathon, running through a crowd cheering from both sides.

The most interesting part of this was the mixed reaction from some of my fellow press colleagues. Some took such offense to our fellow Americans exercising their 1st Amendment rights. One man standing near me gasped "they were so mean!" Another sitting at my table post-race said "such nasty people cussing us out and flipping us the bird."

I gotta tell ya folks, I think these members of the press ran in a different race. I didn't see one nasty thing done when I ran by. I didn't see one "mean" person or "nasty" gesture. I saw lots of cheering and clapping. But the words "mean" and "nasty" would never come my mind when thinking of these particular protesters. Then again, I tend to agree with the protesters limited government/free market ideology, so I'm not as quick to label them or belittle them. The fact is, most running in the race didn't agree with their message of freedom and liberty. So they didn't take a second to notice the celebratory mood of the protesters or the fact they were actually showing us support as we ran by. It's pretty interesting how two people can take away completely different experiences based on our political ideology.

Labels: Entertainment, Media, Politics, running

posted by DVS @ 4:03 PM