Not Fast But Having a Blast

If there is one thing about me that you, dear reader, should know, it is that I am not a sporty chick (she writes in her sports column). I was forced to play a couple seasons of YMCA-led sports, but I begged my parents to let me take more dance classes instead of attempting to dribble a basketball. I never liked playing tag or kickball at recess. I wasn’t a nerd who sat inside and read all day, but I would have rather been on the monkey bars, pretending to be Nastia Liukin instead of playing an organized sport. I was never good at them and, honestly, didn’t have much fun either.

I did join the powder puff football team (where the girls play football and boys cheer) in high school. The one and only reason I did this was because the football players were our coaches. I went to school with Brett Hundley and the Perkins brothers (who all made it to the NFL), so your girl had to shoot her shot. BUT that’s a story for another day.

The POINT is that I was, and always will be, a girl with pompoms who stands on the side and cheers for a team instead of playing on a team.

There is one exception of an organized activity that I will participate in nowadays, and that is a run for a cause. A “fun run,” if you will.

Now, before I go any further, please do not get confused because of my married name — I am no McVeigh runner.

My max is five miles, and I will complain the whole time. What I love is to donate money to a good cause, wear matching shirts with strangers, run a manageable 5K with my friends, and grab brunch after. I don’t discriminate on a fun run. I love the Tunnel to Towers, Graybeard’s Family Run, Buckley’s to Kennedy’s, and all of the Rockaway Track Club’s 5Ks. I even registered for a run at the Bronx Zoo at the end of the month!

This weekend was my favorite fun run of them all: Pat’s Run. For those who may not know, Pat Tillman is an American hero. He played football at Arizona State University and then went on to play in the NFL for the Arizona Cardinals. In 2002, he was offered a 3.6-million-dollar deal to resign with the Cardinals. However, he felt a call to duty after the September 11 terrorist attacks, which occurred eight months earlier, and turned down the contract to join the U.S. Army. On April 22, 2004, Pat Tillman was killed in Afghanistan in a friendly fire incident.

Every year, the Pat Tillman Foundation hosts a 4.2-mile run (he wore number 42 at ASU) in honor of Pat Tillman and the legacy he left behind. I know I am biased, being from Arizona, but he is the true definition of a hero. I mean, his photo isn’t just hanging up in the Harbor Light for no reason. He gave up a life of luxury and fame, playing in the NFL, to join the Army and fight for his country.

The Pats Run symbolizes everything I love about a fun run. The charities or foundations will do their best to host when the weather is nice out. You will see all different types of people at a fun run; children, moms with strollers, college students, veterans, and first responders all coming together to support whatever the cause of the fun run may be. There will be actual runners using the 5K as a warm-up or cool-down and even people who are trying to get into shape and push themselves to complete the distance. I love getting a group together and doing something productive.

Maybe it’s the endorphins from running that make me so happy at the end of the run and persuade me to sign up for the next one. I like to think it’s seeing people from all walks of life choosing to donate their money and time for a good cause.

See you guys at the Rockaway Track Club’s Mother’s Day Run?