Back when my dad started running a lot, he encouraged me to enter in a race. I was having some problems with my blood pressure at the time and was trying to get cardiovascular exercise in. I was running a lot at the YMCA and the Great Lakes Athletic Club. So my first race was the Hidden Forest Trail Run at Independence Oaks. I was nervous about it - not knowing what to expect from my first race. I knew that I enjoyed when there was someone else on the track at the gym because it motivated me more.

This was also my co-worker Olaf Schmidt's first race. My dad had talked him into it too. He showed up wearing cleated shoes (meant for golfing). He thought they would help him with traction since it was a trail run. This has to be the only race where I heard an announcer mention that he didn't want any "show-offs" wearing boots or any other type of shoe. Olaf had to go talk to the guy and explain that he did not know that he could not wear these shoes and that it was his first race and that he did not have any other shoes with him.

The guy must have noticed his accent and knew that he was not from around here. He allowed Olaf to wear the shoes.
So he fired the gun and we started racing. I think I started towards the back because I had never raced before and I didn't want to hold people up. Well, I was definitely next to people who were slower than me and I had to weave my way through until things cleared up. I eventually caught up with my Dad and passed him. I can't remember if I caught up with Olaf or if he caught up with me but we eventually were running together.

We came to a really steep hill and I wanted to start walking but Olaf would not let me. So we kept running together. Near the end there was someone holding out water and I yelled "splash me" which they did, happily. It was very cold that morning so that turned out to be a mistake.

Anyway, there weren't very many people in my age group so I ended up getting second place. I was pretty geeked though to get a medal on my first attempt and it lead me to try other races.