Justice Jog 5k: In Which Important Lessons Are Learned (Read 838 times)

I'm going to start this off with the dream I had last night. I'd moved into a new apartment in the dream, and I was supposed to wake up on time for something. When I woke up (still actually dreaming), I ran around the apartment checking clocks, and they were all wildly different. In other words, my subconscious likes to mess with me, because I woke up at 7:25 this morning for an 8am race. My alarm was set for six but chose not to go off. Somehow, my boyfriend and I managed to stuff ourselves into running gear and get out the door by 7:30. At that point we still thought it might be okay--there were a lot of walkers in the race, maybe they couldn't all start at once or something? That sounds surprisingly plausible when you're still really tired, totally out of it, supposed to be somewhere already, and hurtling down a freeway at mach 1, by the way. We found the parking for the race after more hilarity--namely, following a sign that said "RUNNERS" that seemed to point to an extraordinarily narrow uphill road with a big curve at the top leading to a golf course. If you read that and thought, "That was obviously for golf carts," award yourself ten points. I've never wished to have a bigger car before, but since the Honda Civic just barely fit, it didn't seem that dumb when it was happening. Have I mentioned that we're not really morning people? So, by this point we're clearly late. We park, we pick up our numbers--or, the boyfriend gets his number, I get my "temporary" number since the people at the desk have lost the envelope with the A-C bibs--and feel like total morons walking to the starting gate. The clock says 15:00 something, the guy holding the stopwatch makes some "funny" comment about how the race has already started, and I start my own stupid watch and we get running. Here's the other thing about the race: some people run for fun. Some people run for exercise. Some people run due to a healthy sense of competition, but some run to prove in front of God, the clock and everybody that they are better than their boyfriends. I'll give you a minute to figure out which group I fell into today. Anyway, the boyfriend is totally faster than me. But he doesn't run as much, and has never actually run three miles straight through. I figured with my secret training arsenal of things like "tempo runs" and "hill runs" and "running more than six miles a week," it would not be a problem to beat him. At mile 1, there was a slight problem. I was still about 10 feet behind the boyfriend, who hadn't stopped to walk yet, but that was fine and part of my Secret Plan. My watch said 10:03, though, and I just don't run that fast. That probably should have been a hint to back off a bit, but of course I didn't because my only thought process at the time was, "Sweet! 30 minute 5k?!?" Between miles 1 and 2 is where yesterday's activities come into play. I hiked 5 and a half miles, which gave me the condition known as "sore butt." It was around this time that my lower back muscles started doing some really weird stuff, and it hurt. A lot. Right before 2 miles, I walked for a minute or two. But at 2 miles it was ON. We both started running again, and I managed to keep up with speedy, testosterone-having boyfriend all the way up a hill... and then he stopped to walk again! It's the small victories, really. I managed to gut it down the hill and through the finish line at pretty much top pace, even though I felt a little pukey. And guess who I beat. Clock time: 50:07 Watch time: 33:47 I'm going out to buy a new alarm clock now.

Nice job -- and great race writeup

Ha. What a complicated morning! Was it fun? Did justice occur? Is it justice-y that you beat him? Perhaps. A race certainly has cojones to actually put "jog" in the title New alarm clock: good. Sore butt: Not so good.

OMG, Alex...yours might just be the funniest RR I have ever read! It's like my nightmare...and a big reason I set TWO alarms for every race--my PDA and my cell phone.

Here's the thing: when I have to get up early in the morning to run, I set both my regular alarm clock and my cell phone alarm, across the room. (I call this the "bedmate annoyance prevention" method of getting up. I am Not A Morning Person.) Why didn't I today??! We actually got into an argument over it in the car--I asked BF if he'd heard the alarm (wondering if I'd turned it off in my sleep, though I usually have some recollection of turning it off) and he hadn't. He then pointed out that I've been saying I'm going to get a new alarm clock for years, at least since the second alarm on it broke. I said years, really? and he said Yes. Years. My new one has an internal calendar. It knows when Daylight Savings Time ends. MTA: I have been informed that my alarm went off at 6pm (while I wasn't home). WHY GOD WHY.

We actually got into an argument over it in the car--I asked BF if he'd heard the alarm (wondering if I'd turned it off in my sleep, though I usually have some recollection of turning it off) and he hadn't. He then pointed out that I've been saying I'm going to get a new alarm clock for years, at least since the second alarm on it broke. I said years, really? and he said Yes. Years. My new one has an internal calendar. It knows when Daylight Savings Time ends. MTA: I have been informed that my alarm went off at 6pm (while I wasn't home). WHY GOD WHY.

Oh, no...girl, you two need to get married. You sound just like a couple of comfortable old married farts. This is EXACTLY the sort of discussion that happens between did and I.

Oh, no...girl, you two need to get married. You sound just like a couple of comfortable old married farts. This is EXACTLY the sort of discussion that happens between did and I.

Heh. We're embarking on year 3 of cohabitation, but I think the marriage thing is a while off yet. Though here's a good story: two weekends ago, we decided we needed new towels as well as a fancy kitchen knife and a decent handmixer, so we went to Bed, Bath & Beyond*. As BF was paying (joint checking account*), I wasn't really paying attention, until the cashier said, "Are you guys married?" And BF was like, nah. And then she said, "Well, do you want to get married?" AWKWARD. BF turned bright red and said something along the lines of "What the hell?", except polite, and I garbled something about why would you ask someone that on a Saturday morning? Then she was like, well, if you want to you can register at BB&B. Then she looks at ME and goes, ooooh, he's turning red! I wanted to say, yes, that's what happens when you ask someone personal questions you have no business asking in a public setting, but I just kinda went "heh" and left. *Yes, old farts.

33:47 doesn't sound like a lot but I was officially going for sub-36 and secretly hoping for sub-35--I was surprised to say the least.

Squeeky, this statement is just not true. All goals are important and the best thing about running is that we all have our own goals (every individual goal is a good goal). There are plenty of runners that would be very excited with a 33:47....its a respectible time. Now you can shoot for a 32:47...keep getting better. I enjoyed your race report.......I guarantee that I would have gotten a big cup of coffee and turned on the news and blew off the race if I had gotten up that close to race time...... I commend you for having the motivation to run under these conditions......GOOD JOB

Loved your race report. Great job getting to the race and running it--like others, I probably would have blown off the race. Congrats on beating your boyfriend.