Reclaiming the 80's

I’ve spent the last couple of days seriously considering the possibility that I have lost my mind; or, as is more likely, the last several months have been a transformative experience, one in which I can create for myself a new life and a new self where I am not constrained by the expectations of others.  But what has brought on this sudden bout of personal introspection?

Thursday, I signed up to run in a 5K. 

Me?  Run?  HA!

A year ago, running was a form of torture perpetrated on me by my Jiu-Jitsu instructors (though they would probably disagree with that assessment).  Even six months ago, I would have looked at someone jogging and panting and sweating by the side of the road and wondered why they thought that was a good way to spend a Friday evening.  However, in the last few months, I’ve started making use of the treadmill in my apartment complex since I’m pretty sure I’m paying a premium for that privilege.

This brings us to last Thursday when, on a lark, I signed up for today’s Benton Park Reclaiming the 80’s 5K. And what a lark it was.  What do you remember most about the eighties?

For me, when it came to “costume” ideas, it was the wild sunglasses, ponytails on the side of the head, bangs hair-sprayed six inches tall, and knotted hems in t-shirts.  All of these were out in force this morning, along with knee socks, the ankle socks that you turned down to show the cute lace on the cuff, t-shirts with the collar cut out to hang off the shoulder for the girls, and t-shirts cut across the midriff for the guys. 

There were a couple of stand-outs in the costumes.

My favorite was the guy wearing the Atari jacket.  At first, I thought he was also wearing a yellow motorcycle helmet until I got a closer look at it and realized that it was really a plush pac-man hat.  I guess his head was the ghost…  However, I can’t make too much fun of him, because for the short portion of the race where we shared the street (saying we ran together would be a gross misrepresentation of what occurred), he was apparently running backwards to check on one of his friends.  I think, like some canines I have had the pleasure of hiking with, he ran eight or nine kilometers during the race rather than the designated course length of 5km. 

In another flashback to the best of the eighties, one of the race organizers was wearing a Ghostbusters costume- complete with inflatable proton pack weapon.  Where some of the participants went with the worst of the eighties (knee socks with running shorts?), this guy went with one of the best things to come out of the decade – The Ghostbusters.  Adam Sandler has nothing on Bill Murray or Dan Aykryod.  That movie still makes me laugh.

As for the race itself, I will spare you to pitiful details of my own performance.  Let’s just say that it is somewhat humbling to have someone almost twice my age finish in roughly half my time.  However, at the start of the race, it was really cool to see the wave of people cascading down the road in front of me and know that I was part of the fun.  At the end, my calves are sore, my feet have a new collection of blisters, and I lost three pounds in water weight, but I had a great time doing it.  Maybe running isn’t such a crazy thing after all.

Benton Park:  http://www.bpnastl.org/

The IMDB page for The Ghostbusters: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087332/