23:45!
I've written this story for Monday's paper of the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram.
By Chris Vetter
Chippewa Falls News Bureau
CHIPPEWA FALLS - As I struggled to catch my breath, I wondered how I wound up run-ning a 5K race. I’ve never been a runner. I was a chubby, slow offensive lineman in high school, and my pants size slowly increased during my 20s.
With the tunes of Poison in my headset, I kept my pace go-ing. I had no idea how fast I was running, but I knew I wanted to run the entire Chilly Chippewa 5K in Chippewa Falls on Satur-day.
I started thinking about get-ting in shape when my step-father died in the fall of 2001. The day of his funeral, all I could think about was the eulogy I was presenting, and how ridiculously tight I felt in my suit. I knew something had to change.
I joined the Chippewa Valley Family YMCA shortly after his death, and I was shocked the first time I stepped on the scale. I weighed 277 pounds. How did that happen? Bad diet, little ex-ercise, all the above.
In the four-and-a-half years since then, I’ve slowly dropped weight, and I checked in at 204 pounds Friday. I’ve revamped my wardrobe, and I love the shocked look from friends who haven’t seen me in a while. One way I’ve lost weight is from go-ing for nightly walks, just a mile or two. When the Chippewa Falls High School requested a permit from the city earlier this year to hold the annual 5K run, I knew I had to participate. I be-gan increasing my nightly walks and improving my time.
I hoped to finish between 27 and 30 minutes. A small crowd cheered for me as I neared the high school, and that boosted my final steps.
I was astounded as I crossed the finish line, with a time of 23:45. A five kilometer race is 3.1 miles, so I averaged just un-der 8 minutes a mile; not a great feat, but for a guy who has seen his pant size shrink from a 42-inch to 36-inch waist, it is a tre-mendous achievement.
But I found an even better story as I interviewed people crossing the finish line. Mary Pomietlo, 37, gave birth to her fifth child just nine weeks ago. She had a C-section and a hys-terectomy. She finished the race in 34 minutes, running side-by-side with her friend, Donna Goodman.
“I feel nauseated, but I feel good,” Pomietlo said. “This is the first time I ran.” Pomietlo made the decision to run just the day before. She was proud that she didn’t walk at all.
“It’s a stress reliever, I think,” Pomietlo said.
Goodman said the women have been longtime friends; they met through their husbands. Goodman is training for a mara-thon; she ran 10 miles in Eau Claire on Saturday before the Chippewa 5k! “I’m very im-pressed,” Goodman said of her friend. “I told her, you’re a hero.” The weather couldn’t have been better Saturday, with no snow and temperatures in the low 30s.
Roger Skifstad, a Chi Hi Eng-lish teacher, is an organizer for the fifth annual Chilly Chippewa 5K, which drew just more than 100 participants this year.
“The first year, we had just 60, so we’ve had a few more each year,” Skifstad said. “When we started the race, it was more of a fund-raiser for the cross country team. Now, it’s less of a money-making thing for us, and it’s more of an event, a wellness thing.” Skifstad said the weather has not always co-operated.
“The second (race), we woke up, and six inches of snow had fallen,” Skifstad said. “It was truly a chilly run. Everyone’s times were slow, because you couldn’t dig in.” First place went to Chi Hi senior Brian Ri-ley, who ran it in 17:34. The top female finisher was Karen Schoenrock, 43, of Eau Claire, finishing fourth overall at 19:14.
My name is down on the list, finishing 36th. But I wasn’t the only person who felt like a win-ner on Saturday.
Vetter can be reached at 723-0303 or chris.vetter@ecpc.com.
By Chris Vetter
Chippewa Falls News Bureau
CHIPPEWA FALLS - As I struggled to catch my breath, I wondered how I wound up run-ning a 5K race. I’ve never been a runner. I was a chubby, slow offensive lineman in high school, and my pants size slowly increased during my 20s.
With the tunes of Poison in my headset, I kept my pace go-ing. I had no idea how fast I was running, but I knew I wanted to run the entire Chilly Chippewa 5K in Chippewa Falls on Satur-day.
I started thinking about get-ting in shape when my step-father died in the fall of 2001. The day of his funeral, all I could think about was the eulogy I was presenting, and how ridiculously tight I felt in my suit. I knew something had to change.
I joined the Chippewa Valley Family YMCA shortly after his death, and I was shocked the first time I stepped on the scale. I weighed 277 pounds. How did that happen? Bad diet, little ex-ercise, all the above.
In the four-and-a-half years since then, I’ve slowly dropped weight, and I checked in at 204 pounds Friday. I’ve revamped my wardrobe, and I love the shocked look from friends who haven’t seen me in a while. One way I’ve lost weight is from go-ing for nightly walks, just a mile or two. When the Chippewa Falls High School requested a permit from the city earlier this year to hold the annual 5K run, I knew I had to participate. I be-gan increasing my nightly walks and improving my time.
I hoped to finish between 27 and 30 minutes. A small crowd cheered for me as I neared the high school, and that boosted my final steps.
I was astounded as I crossed the finish line, with a time of 23:45. A five kilometer race is 3.1 miles, so I averaged just un-der 8 minutes a mile; not a great feat, but for a guy who has seen his pant size shrink from a 42-inch to 36-inch waist, it is a tre-mendous achievement.
But I found an even better story as I interviewed people crossing the finish line. Mary Pomietlo, 37, gave birth to her fifth child just nine weeks ago. She had a C-section and a hys-terectomy. She finished the race in 34 minutes, running side-by-side with her friend, Donna Goodman.
“I feel nauseated, but I feel good,” Pomietlo said. “This is the first time I ran.” Pomietlo made the decision to run just the day before. She was proud that she didn’t walk at all.
“It’s a stress reliever, I think,” Pomietlo said.
Goodman said the women have been longtime friends; they met through their husbands. Goodman is training for a mara-thon; she ran 10 miles in Eau Claire on Saturday before the Chippewa 5k! “I’m very im-pressed,” Goodman said of her friend. “I told her, you’re a hero.” The weather couldn’t have been better Saturday, with no snow and temperatures in the low 30s.
Roger Skifstad, a Chi Hi Eng-lish teacher, is an organizer for the fifth annual Chilly Chippewa 5K, which drew just more than 100 participants this year.
“The first year, we had just 60, so we’ve had a few more each year,” Skifstad said. “When we started the race, it was more of a fund-raiser for the cross country team. Now, it’s less of a money-making thing for us, and it’s more of an event, a wellness thing.” Skifstad said the weather has not always co-operated.
“The second (race), we woke up, and six inches of snow had fallen,” Skifstad said. “It was truly a chilly run. Everyone’s times were slow, because you couldn’t dig in.” First place went to Chi Hi senior Brian Ri-ley, who ran it in 17:34. The top female finisher was Karen Schoenrock, 43, of Eau Claire, finishing fourth overall at 19:14.
My name is down on the list, finishing 36th. But I wasn’t the only person who felt like a win-ner on Saturday.
Vetter can be reached at 723-0303 or chris.vetter@ecpc.com.