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the turkey has been trotted
Nov. 27th, 2008 01:42 pm7:50 - wake up. Look out window at overcast. Think, "that doesn't look too bad" and get up and make coffee.
8:10 - get newspaper from front walk. Hmm, it's drizzling. Still, not too bad.
8:20 - drink coffee, look out window, OMG it is pouring. Maybe I should go back to bed. Nah, I'm up, might as well make breakfast.
8:50 - finish eating breakfast, hmm, it seems to have stopped pouring and gone back to drizzling. Okay, no excuses. Get into running clothes and pull a rain jacket over, get my Garmin and HRM, look out the window again. Drink more coffee. Psych myself up.
9:10 - head outside and walk/jog up the mesa to the race start on the college campus. I get there around 9:30 and am amazed at how many people are there, warming up and signing up and hanging out. I am pretty much the only person in shorts and short sleeves (under my rain jacket, which I dither about wearing for the race but ultimately decide against). Sign up. Hit restroom. Look out window. It continues to drizzle very lightly. Look at race course map; the course has been re-routed off the singletrack because of the weather, so it's mostly pavement with about a mile of dirt road. Go outside and run around a little. I see a few more people in short sleeves and shorts, which makes me feel better about stripping off my jacket and sticking it under the drinks table at the finish line.
9:50 - line up at start. Freeze.
10:00 - and we are off! I try not to rabbit off too fast but the beginning of a race is always fast. Soon, though, I fall into a nice, comfortable pace. Except for my forearms between elbow and wrist, I am perfectly temperature-balanced. The rain is very light and maybe it stops altogether for a while, I'm not sure. I speed up on the downhill and pass a bunch of people. I glance at my Garmin and it tells me my heart rate is 210 bpm, which is about 20 beats more than I thought my maximum was; maybe the rain is affecting it. I slow down on the uphill, turn the corner, and then it's the dirt road by the reservoir, which normally has a lovely view of the La Platas but right now I can't tell if there are mountains there or not - all I see is cloud. Some woman passes me. I pass her right back, bitch. Up the hill by the golf course, around the corner of the mesa, across campus, and down under the clock tower and across the finish line with a time of 38:52 for the five miles. I won't know how I did relative to everyone else until tomorrow, but I'm happy with that.
10:40 - cool off. Drink juice. Eat a cookie. Watch people finish.
10:50 - FREEZE. It's started raining a little harder.
11:00 - head inside and wait for the raffle. The top male and female finishers in this race get modest prizes - pumpkin pies - but the good stuff, the gift certificates to restaurants and running stores, is reserved for the raffle. Alas, I get none of the prizes, not even a pair of socks (which are tossed at intervals to the crowd).
11:50 - head outside. OMG it is snowing. Thick, wet, gloppy snow. I beg a ride from one of the other runners so I don't have to walk home in it.
12:00 - take a hot shower and drink some hot tea. It's still snowing.
1:40 - Post this. It's still snowing.
8:10 - get newspaper from front walk. Hmm, it's drizzling. Still, not too bad.
8:20 - drink coffee, look out window, OMG it is pouring. Maybe I should go back to bed. Nah, I'm up, might as well make breakfast.
8:50 - finish eating breakfast, hmm, it seems to have stopped pouring and gone back to drizzling. Okay, no excuses. Get into running clothes and pull a rain jacket over, get my Garmin and HRM, look out the window again. Drink more coffee. Psych myself up.
9:10 - head outside and walk/jog up the mesa to the race start on the college campus. I get there around 9:30 and am amazed at how many people are there, warming up and signing up and hanging out. I am pretty much the only person in shorts and short sleeves (under my rain jacket, which I dither about wearing for the race but ultimately decide against). Sign up. Hit restroom. Look out window. It continues to drizzle very lightly. Look at race course map; the course has been re-routed off the singletrack because of the weather, so it's mostly pavement with about a mile of dirt road. Go outside and run around a little. I see a few more people in short sleeves and shorts, which makes me feel better about stripping off my jacket and sticking it under the drinks table at the finish line.
9:50 - line up at start. Freeze.
10:00 - and we are off! I try not to rabbit off too fast but the beginning of a race is always fast. Soon, though, I fall into a nice, comfortable pace. Except for my forearms between elbow and wrist, I am perfectly temperature-balanced. The rain is very light and maybe it stops altogether for a while, I'm not sure. I speed up on the downhill and pass a bunch of people. I glance at my Garmin and it tells me my heart rate is 210 bpm, which is about 20 beats more than I thought my maximum was; maybe the rain is affecting it. I slow down on the uphill, turn the corner, and then it's the dirt road by the reservoir, which normally has a lovely view of the La Platas but right now I can't tell if there are mountains there or not - all I see is cloud. Some woman passes me. I pass her right back, bitch. Up the hill by the golf course, around the corner of the mesa, across campus, and down under the clock tower and across the finish line with a time of 38:52 for the five miles. I won't know how I did relative to everyone else until tomorrow, but I'm happy with that.
10:40 - cool off. Drink juice. Eat a cookie. Watch people finish.
10:50 - FREEZE. It's started raining a little harder.
11:00 - head inside and wait for the raffle. The top male and female finishers in this race get modest prizes - pumpkin pies - but the good stuff, the gift certificates to restaurants and running stores, is reserved for the raffle. Alas, I get none of the prizes, not even a pair of socks (which are tossed at intervals to the crowd).
11:50 - head outside. OMG it is snowing. Thick, wet, gloppy snow. I beg a ride from one of the other runners so I don't have to walk home in it.
12:00 - take a hot shower and drink some hot tea. It's still snowing.
1:40 - Post this. It's still snowing.
