What is that THING on my leg!?!? And how did it get there!?!?
I don’t classify myself as a “runner” and I are as hell don’t run in races.
I hate running in the rain, and I sure as hell don’t run in races in the rain.
Yet here I am…on a rainy Sunday morning at the tail end of an atmospheric river that has wiped out streets and homes and businesses in some sections of the North Shore.
WHY!?!?! am I here, in the race, in this weather, doing this thing?
Because someone got me in a weak moment and sent me a link to a race that I had to do little more than roll out of bed to get to.
As if that is any excuse.
Because I have always maintained, steadfastly, that I will never run in a race.
Yet here I am,
With that thing stuck to my leg.
Again…why?
Because she said she’d come too, as if that’s any enticement, she’s an endurance athlete, I’m more of a couch athlete.
Because she pointed out how close it was to my home.
Because she said we’d take it easy.
Because I am apparently weak.
Because she said it was for charity. The run was for the Strachan Heritage Legacy Fund. All proceeds support Streetfront, an East Vancouver school that’s supporting at-risk youth that apparently has achieved a 96% graduation rate and produced hundreds of marathon finishers!
I will never run a marathon. Pretty sure I’ll stick to that one!
The route for the 5K (I would NOT do a 10K) wasn’t exactly pleasant….the area is hilly and the existing course has a few icky uphill parts.
However, with the pummelling rain the past two days, the District has closed the parks and asked people to stay away from the rivers, so they changed the course and it ended up looking more like this…..
….which was confusing since the arrows didn’t really make sense unless there was some doubling back, and even then it didn’t make sense in some places.
I figured, whatever, it’s not like I was going to be anywhere near the front. So I could just follow and hope she didn’t leave me in the dust….not that there was any dust…that was all washed away in all the precipitation.
But the upside, when I saw the rejigged route and, knowing the area well…because it’s my neighbourhood and I do ‘that-thing-that-looks-like-I’m-trying-to-run’ in the area a fair bit, I thought “maybe I will survive this thing-I-said-I-would-never-do”. Because I know those roads represent a FLAT route! I mean sure, there are a couple of little hills, but not any steep ravines or long uphill stretches that the original course has.
And I survived. I had to drop down to a walk twice…or was it three times, due to a couple of stitches. And now I am drying out. But we crossed the line shoulder to shoulder, mainly because she was kind and didn’t choose to leave me in the dust as I know she could have.
It was 5K, but I didn’t start my timer on time, so I logged only 4.84K despite doing the full thing.
But do you know what amuses me?
The fact that my number is the abbreviated telephone number in most of North America that is used for reporting problems.
Oh, and my new waterproof socks worked pretty well, because my shoes are not waterproof. And I really hate being wet.
There, I’ve done the thing.
And now I am drying out….
