A memorable 4th of July…

 

I was thinking about what I wanted to write today and the memory of me at 11 years old on the 4th of July, kept coming to mind over and over again, so I decided why not share what a freak I was.

I grew up in Newport Shores across the street from the beachfront. Every year our community, like so many other communities across the country, hosted a bike parade followed by different competitions throughout the day. As a child I always decorated my bike very elaborately but at 11, preparing to start 7th grade in the Fall,I felt a little too old to participate in that activity. I wanted to enter a competition that I thought I could win but every year I lost at the egg toss, was never a big over eater so I couldn’t win the watermelon eating contest, so what should I do? Of course I thought this through the week before and reviewed the flier that was passed out to everyone in the neighborhood and looked over all the events. I mean who does that at 11?

After reviewing all the potential events I could sign up for, I decided why not do the 5k run?  Just so you know, I have never been a runner and back then I hated running because it would cause me to sweat which is super unattractive, or so I thought at 11, but why not? Everyday I would watch all these “old people” ( probably younger than I am today) jog through the neighborhood, how hard could it be? So funny, I realize now, this is how I have always made all my decisions. If someone else can do something, why not me?

So because I thought I was super cool and totally in shape from swim team, I decided a few days of running would be a enough preparation to win the event. So for 3 days I ran the neighborhood practicing for the race. My parents thought it was really funny because they knew I was a lousy runner and weren’t sure why I thought I could win the race.

Fourth of July morning, 1980, I get on my blue and white Dolphin shorts with my red t-shirt and head out for the race down the street. Everyone was surprised to see me at the race because everyone knew I was a big swimmer but no one had ever seen me run. In addition, I was the only child who had entered the race. Oh well, runner or not I figured winning would be pretty easy against all the “old” people. I mean how wacko was I? My plan was to start fast and just keep the same pace the whole time and never let anyone get in front of me. Wow, apparently I thought being 11 gave me some kind of super powers.

So once they shot off the gun to start the race, I ran right to the front of the pack and stayed their until the last half mile. The run was several laps through the Shores so my Dad stood on the corner and cheered me on as I kept running by. On the last lap my Dad yelled ” they are catching you Tiffani, you better speed up!” What, how can I speed up when I am about to collapse? I remember feeling like I was going to die. I had never felt that bad in my life. I was sweating profusely and was so dizzy my vision was blurred and I started breaking out in goose bumps. Wasn’t sure if I was going to vomit, faint or have a heart attack? But I was so close to winning I couldn’t stop. As I kept running, an “old” lady passed me and took first place and just when I thought I had second, another “old” dude ran through the finish line before me. Third place, I was so bummed but so sick I had to first deal with surviving before I could obsess on how I lost.

Everyone thought I did a really good job and my parents were shocked I actually placed but I knew then why I hadn’t been a runner before, running sucked. I hated running. That was my first and last running race but one of the first times in my life, I realized how seriously competitive I was.

And the topper to the story, I actually still had the ribbon in my 2nd through 6th grade photo/memorabilia album, as you can see from the photo. Told you I was a freak.

Have a safe and fun 4th of July!!

p.s. If you have teenagers don’t forget to give them the paddy wagon talk before they head out on their bikes to the beach. Never been in a paddy wagon, but can imagine it isn’t a fun place to spend the holiday. I told my daughter if she gets arrested on the Peninsula for God knows what, don’t call me, I hate to drive on the 4th of July, too dangerous.