Notes
I got beat by the clock for a little bit, so I didn't have quite as much time as I would have liked. Still was able to enjoy an absolutely gorgeous morning. The sunrise was fantastic and the calm and cool weather was great too. There was a 5k in Wheaton this morning. Perfect weather for a December 5k. Racers probably couldn't have asked for anything better.
Starting out my route I had no clue where I was going to go. Felt like heading south because I don't normally head that way. Eventually made my way over to COD where I did a lap around the main building. Around that time I could tell a bathroom need arising. Ignored it. Even when I saw a portopotty next to a grade school I ignored it. It was like 4-5 blocks out of my way. I'd be fine.....or would I?
About 1mi later it started to get back. Really bad. Unfortunately I was surrounded by houses. No privacy anywhere. Sometimes, in the early morning, when it's still dark, a single evergreen tree will do the trick. Not at 7:30 though. There were multiple times that I thought I was a goner. I fought it off for about 1.5mi with no real hope of actually making it all the way home without crapping my pants. I just wanted to delay the inevitable as long as I could. At best I thought I could get back to downtown Glen Ellyn and pull an Enright - charging into a busy Einstein Bros bagels and making a bee line for the bathroom. The pressure would hit, I would take some deep breaths, relax as much as possible and just hope that my butt didn't turn into the off-brand bag in those Ziploc commercials where they demonstrate how sturdy their bags are compared to the competitor, even when you fill them with a gallon of pasta sauce and shake them upside down. This cycle repeated itself 3-4 times over the course of what felt like an hour, but was probably about 5 minutes. Then, suddenly, I saw it. It was just as I turned onto Loraine: The perfect make-shift outhouse. There was a circle of bushes, a 3 sided wooden fence, and inside of it all appeared from a distance to be a dumpster. On the far side of it was a retention pond. Hallelujah. As I got closer I realized it was actually not a dumpster but a really large version of those metal utility boxes. Even better. There was a zero percent chance that anybody else was going to be back there or was going to see me. It was glorious. Afterwards I felt like a new man. All the soreness in my legs that was there during the first half of the run was gone. I simply floated home feeling like I could go on forever.
I guess tacos weren't the wisest choice for dinner last night.