Wild Woman

Mrs. VTR has started a phenomenon. Frustrated that the competitive feel of even local fun runs was getting the better of her, Mrs. VTR started the Wild Woman 3 Miler last year. Her goal was to reclaim the sport of running, without any competitive pressure, self-inflicted or otherwise. She set a date and was going to run three miles on her own. A few friends found out about her mission, and they decided to join her...in costume.

They had a ball, so this year Mrs. VTR decided to open the run up to a few friends. The ladies arrived at 7:45AM yesterday and dropped their kids at our house, where many of the husbands and I were on kid and refreshment duty. 30 racers, about 20 husbands and somewhere around 30 kids later, Second Annual Wild Woman's 3 Miler went off without a hitch, complete with official t-shirts that I was able to pull together.

It was a great run and tribute to the community spirit that can drive running, if it's approached in the right mindset. There were two comments after the race that really epitomized to me what the event was all about. One non-runner-type described how the runners split into two groups on the course. She didn't realize they had split until the front group just stopped running. She wondered what was going on until she realized that the faster group was patiently waiting for the second group. "How cool is that?" she said.

On the other hand, a serious runner-type said after the race, "Next year this could be really big and really good -- with prizes for the fastest time, etc." You see, this woman missed the point entirely. The only prize for the Wild Woman Race was for the wildest costume (won by a woman in a snorkel, mask and old school life vest). Mrs. VTR did take this woman's suggestion to heart, though. Maybe next year they will have a prize for the fastest time...only they'll draw it out of a hat at the end of the run.

Very cool.