12 September, 2011

A successful run

I got up super early on Sunday so that I would have plenty of time to wake up and eat and walk the dog before I had to head out for the race.  I caught the bus at about 7:15 and found four other women on there also riding to the race.  It was so warm, even at 7 am, that I didn't even have to bring a jacket, which was a good thing because they didn't have a place to check anything!  I had to do the race holding my keys and iPhone.  I was a good girl and followed the rule of no headphones but there were plenty of others who were wearing them.  This was quite a sight - no men in the race.  It was for women only.  There were men there, of course, but mostly it was a huge sea of every conceivable type of woman.  No dogs and no strollers - which is a rule I think should be followed at every race.  I had a couple of songs in my head to run to and I figured I would use my Nike app to keep track of my pace.  I got ready and started it when I crossed the start line.  Unfortunately I got less than half a kilometer before I realized one of my shoelaces had come undone!  I toyed with the idea of leaving it but thought better of that and steered myself to the inner portion of the track and stopped to tie it.  What I didn't realize was I touched the screen of the iPhone and accidentally paused the app.  By the time I figured that out I had no idea at all how much further I had run and it was very frustrating because I was trying to keep a certain pace for a certain amount of time and then speed up.  From that point on -- about a mile into the race I think -- I just ran and pretty  much decided that it wasn't going to be any kind of record breaking run so I should just enjoy myself.  I gave a little push when I got into sight of the finish line but honestly, I could (and should) have run harder.  And the final mistake -- I thought the starting mat was the finish mat and slowed down before I crossed the finish line!!  I probably lost 30 seconds between that boneheaded move and tying my shoelaces.  All that notwithstanding, I ended up winning 2nd place in my division!!  I have never even broken the top 50% so I was thrilled.  And kicking myself because with just a little more effort I could have gotten first.  Ah well, next time.  I am still beaming.  I won a little prize so I stayed for the award ceremony.  

My plan for the day was to go home, walk Tink and then go have a nice lunch outside and start dreaming in earnest about my upcoming trip.  But it was blazing hot by the time I got home.  I took her for an abbreviated walk, having had to walk all the way home from the lake after the run because of the goofy Sunday bus schedule, and then showered and did a brief bit of cleaning and then headed out for lunch.  But it was just way too hot to sit outside, plus all the football games were on, so I went inside where it was cool and had a celebratory lunch at the bar with the rest of the football nuts.  I headed home at halftime to watch a bit more and basically that was my evening -- football and knitting.  But oh, was it ever hot!  I had to have the fan blowing right on me the entire evening.  My dinner consisted of a fruit smoothy and about 3 bites of a sandwich.  Too hot to eat.  It has cooled off somewhat today and I think we're done with the very hot weather, at least for the rest of this week.  And that's fine.

My fantasy team has four players in the game this evening and I am counting on them to put me over the top.  I have Tom Brady for my QB.  They're playing Miami tonight so I am hoping for a lot of points out of him.  I do NOT want to be last this year.  How many times do I have to say that?  This year it will be entirely my fault too, because I drafted these guys.  I may have to make some adjustments but that will have to wait until tomorrow.

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