I ran the Crazylegs Classic last Saturday. I don't consider myself a runner. Well, I consider myself as someone who enjoys running but isn't any good at it. I have come to grips with the fact that I never will be good at it--my diminutive legs can only carry me so fast. When I run with others of "normal" (i.e. average) height, it takes me three strides for their every two just to keep up. I finished the course but I didn't make my goal. I did, however, beat my time from my previous attempt at the Crazylegs eight years ago.

I have not figured out how I feel about not making my goal. On the one hand, I know I could have had a better result had I not held back as much in the beginning for fear of not being able to complete the distance. I had plenty of energy left in the last half mile for a pretty good kick and even then I still had a lot in reserves. On the other hand, I know I did well in that I was faster than the median finish time for men in my age group. (I'm not quite sure how the sample selection bias affects the external validity of this, though: Only folks actually interested in running would register to run 5 miles on a dreary Saturday morning and could possibly be better runners; however, many avid distance runners believe that only wusses stop running at 5 miles and wouldn't sign up for such a short race--it could go either way.)

In any case, it felt good to run. I enjoyed the adrenaline-tinged rush of feeling my legs pump as I climbed the near 75ft vertical rise of Bascom Hill in a quarter-mile and the satisfaction of breezing past the slower people that seemed, at least from my speed, to be barely moving. As I got going, I felt good to push myself and I relished both physical and mental sensations of moving faster going further than I thought I could. I'm fairly sure this isn't the start of a long string of races to be run though. I had a great time but it just doesn't seem worth the money. While the elation of accomplishment might be hard to valuate, I'm pretty sure the t-shirt I got--my only tangible token of participation--was worth nowhere near the $25 I paid for registration.