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Mrs CN and I did the 2020 BTN 10K this morning.
It was supposed to rain most of the day, so we took our chances around 9:30 am and set off. It turned out to be a beautiful morning. We have tons of trails around where we live in Chaska, MN, so it’s easy to get out and get moving, whether by foot or wheel.
I will admit to some nervousness before we started. If you’d asked me three months ago if I thought I’d ever do a 10K in any form, I’d have lied it would be no problem and then ran away.
Since, things have changed. I quit drinking April 22nd. I began weaning myself off Depakote, a brain seizure medicine I had taken for my brain injury. I started walking daily. In June I bought the last new mountain bike left in the United State (or so it seems). I have tried to get in better shape physically AND mentally.
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Mrs CN signed up but choose to join the enemy, a clear influence from our rotten son who attends the University of Minnesota. She took short videos along the way and she is perky most of the time. She’s in a helluva lot better shape than I am.
Doing a 10k wasn’t easy. It hurt. I started doing the “hand on hips” bit around the 2.5 mile mark. It’s clear that I need to get stronger physically in my core muscles as my back and should blades hurt like hell from three miles on.
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Note that our time isn’t so great. Mrs CN informed me last week that she’d successfully run a 10K and instead of running today, she walked with me - something I greatly appreciate because I’m not sure I’d have finished if I didn’t have a supportive partner.
Also note that we went longer than 10K because I didn’t turn around at the halfway point, but insisted on going a little further. We ended up with a 12k instead of a 10k. Therefore when people question my crappy time, I can point out my superiority in going further because everyone knows if you can’t feel better about yourselves than others, what’s the point of living in the first place.
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Today was but one step in changing my life from the guy who’s a drunken, loud obnoxious lout to a guy who’s loud, obnoxious, but in better shape and more willing to tell you about his diet and sobriety than you want to know.
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Now get out there and get moving.