Slow Running public Races, overcoming Embarrassment about Awkwardness

 When I was a kid (fifth grade at Nova Elementary) and my class's p.e. instructor had us, as a group, run an extended course,, it would usually come down to a rqce. We'd heqd off campus toward the northern palm trees, which w'ed circle an thenreturn 'home. Brooke, as naurally talented as she was...and hopefully still is...would gracefully run away from the competition; she'd kick eveyone's ass if it were a Parkun!  i was a quick, short-distance sprinter with a long way to go on the endurance running side.  According to slow running (AF) advocate Martinus Evans, running competitively in public, under everyone's gaze, is an integral element of the activity.  This coming Saturday's Depot pqrkrun 5k is basically a publicly staged event.  So if i have any self-conscious issues involving feeling embarrassed over others observing my obviously flawed attempts at running for a sustained distance...forget the palms...looks like no one is in danger of confusing me with Brooke. Training for Saturday will necessarily involve me very lightly running downa dry stretch of qasphalt road,assuming i actually get a dry stretch of road with all this rain we've been having lately. My plan is this:after we've started the upcoming race for about a minute, I kick into slow AF running and see how long I can stand it...there ain't no shame in going back into walking mode, at least for a little while. I can also cut across the park's course to the car should I need to 'drop out' early...Still, unlike the case with our Florida Lottery, it should all be 'good fun'...

Some Perspective About My Past in 1971

 It's Friday morning on what used to be a typical weekday.  55 years ago I would have been showing up in the ninth grade at Nova in Davie as the weather outside was transitioning to a stench of chronic Everglades fire smog.  Lobo's debut hit Me and You and a Dog Named Boo was getting its radio overplay...soon I would tire of hearing it.  I was fourteen and a half, thoroughly tired of having to go to school for  a year. After school I temporarily stood up to a bully leaving the bus one afternoon and go t a little beat down in a fist fight)The esxperience taught me what contemptible ghouls the unwelcome onlookers were who were staring at me in a circle.  The next morning I received some sympathy from busstop classmates for what I went through, and that creep Arnone laid off me, never to be a friend. Later that summer during the early 10th grade I would return to school more serious in my studies.  On prime time sitcom television, some new series like All in the Family and Mary Tyler Moore were starting their runs...my family became good fans.That fall "my" Miami Dolphins, coached by Don Shula, were good enough to make it to the Super Bowl...which they convincingly lost to Dallas. Overall, I was not a happy camper and tended to slip into daydreaming for much of my high school class time.  At home, my father would overdose me with talk of his dog racing betting strategies and philosophies. Still, I appreciated his efforts at weightlifting to the point of getting good at the bench press, pull-up, and standing press (I could lift up my own weight from the ground).   Growing up during this period was a confirmation of me not having an easy life. In my home neighborhood, my neighbors were raucous and out of control, loudly playing music deep into the night.