The slowest kid on the field.

Hi, my name is Amy, and I'm slow.

Before I started running, when I saw people jogging along the street at a snail's pace, I'd think to myself, "Dude, just walk. You'd probably go faster and also not look like an a-hole." Now, I'm that a-hole, stubbornly plodding along.

The thing is, I'd given up on running. I'd tried the Couch to 5K program maybe a year or so, and gave up after about a week. The program wasn't for me, and I'd decided that running wasn't either. It was okay. I'd get fit other ways.

But then Kristen signed up for a half-marathon and I'd get her running updates after lunch everyday. The sense of accomplishment than she and our other running friends seemed to get from made me long for something more than the elliptical. So when Kristen said she'd have to run a few 5Ks and other races to get ready for the half, I found myself saying I'd join her.

Every race we talk about signing up for, I check the past year's results. I need to make sure that historically, people have been slower than me. No one wants to come in last. Our first 5K, I was so slow I was with the walkers when I finished and figured I'd somehow missed the finished the line since no one around me was running.

I'm doing it, though, and that's the important thing. The motivation of having a race coming up pushes me in a way that the gym never could. No, most people who clock a 15:00 minute per mile pace aren't entering races. I never thought I'd be running any miles at any pace, let alone 3.1 of them. And for now, that means more than my pace when I'm doing it.