Instead of spending this blog post whining about my race that wasn't...I thought I would highlight some of the laughs from the weekend.
- Who the heck travels to a race in the rain (forecast said ALL week) without 1 jacket for their drop bag??
- Didn't know it was possible to be running and shivering at the same time. It is and it sucks.
- Very interesting to be travelling in the midst of "swine flu outbreak"
I became fascinated trying to figure why some people chose to wear masks, and others didn't. Paul said that I should be happy for those wearing masks...less likely for me to get sick.
Don't you at some point become immune to hand sanitizer? The guy sitting next to me on the plane pulled his out no less than 10 times on the way to California. I was trying to figure out what provoked each cleansing...1) did I get too close; 2) did he touch his seatbelt; 3) did someone brush against him. No matter, his hands were CLEAN. It was funny to me.
- And the funniest tale of the weekend... (yes, Steve, I know you already told it. My turn now!)
Steve graciously loaded my shivering self into a car to head back to Pan Toll. In the car with us were two other guys who were dropping, as well. In the back seat was Steve to my right and this guy to my left. Steve and I started chatting. He asks, "do you know who was leading?" I say, "Geoff," with some level of knowledge as I saw him run by. Without much more than a pause, the guy to my left says, "No he's not. I am Geoff." GULP...After a moment of silence, I pulled my foot out of my mouth long enough to explain to Geoff that I had been running with his buddy David and that David was raving that Geoff was going to win. I was just hoping that this explanation would leave him flattered that we thought he was awesome enough to talk about him. Fortunately, he was a VERY nice guy and spent the rest of the ride talking about his miserable day...he had gotten quite sick.
Once we got to Pan Toll, I don't know how many times Steve and I had a great laugh about my comment....oops. At least it gave us a good laugh in the midst my misery.
Of course, the DNF stings but there was really no other choice, at least not a smart one at the time. BUT, to have some goods laughs...I'll take those memories.
Thanks for all the support...on to the next adventure.
mer
Oh, and one final piece to add...WTF with the cruel joke of poison oak. Wasn't the DNF enough? I sure do love the trails in Cali, but could really do without another round of poison oak.
5 comments:
Glad that you're able to look back on the whole experience as a positive one. You definitely made the right decision. Sorry to hear about the poison oak. If misery loves company, I can tell you that the trails I ran on Sunday were absolutely smothered in it and I totally forgot to wash with my Tecnu after it. Unfortunately, I have it in some of the most uncomfortable places with the patch on my face being the most visible, but not the worst!
It was great reading your personal insight and some of the thoughts going around in your head. Made me laugh about the guy on the plane. I didn't realize there was poison oak out there until I was staying over at a local's place in SFO last year who runs those trails all the time. One of the mainstays in his shower was a bottle of Tecnu. I would have never known, otherwise. Can't wait to hear about the next adventure! :)
Got TWO shots of steroid today!! Thank goodness I was too cold to go to the restroom in the woods. With my luck I would have had in unfortunate (read: private) places as well...my doctor laughs at the 1-2 guaranteed trips into the office with my visits to California. Watch out at WS...crazy bad there, too.
Larry had to call me and read it, after which I decided to actually open your blog and read it myself. Totally worth it! I mean, I know nobody gets happy after such a thing like a "race that wasn't", but to get funny and insightful about it surely brings high points of knowing you'll be back, here and other places! I get poison oak after those trails all the time, but, thank God, never a shot required. Yeah, no private parts either:) And yeah, Geoff is a pretty cool dude, glad you had a chat!
What else can you do when you have horrible conditions, but grin and bear it? Can't control the weather, can we? We can just check a lot and obsess.
Are you still in for the Bastrop run this weekend? We would love to see you. I am sure Mark will appreciate it if you come, so he has someone more his pace. :)
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