I decided on Wednesday to sign up for the 5k. The next evening, my boss put me on a rare Saturday call. When he told me about it, I said "As long as it's not at 7:30." He said that in fact it was. But he'd taken a call while riding his bike recently and I didn't need to speak so he thought it should work. I was thinking of doing 16-17 miles before the race and got up at 5:30. I had a number of emails and had to work for an hour so that plan was ruined. Then I realized I hadn't plugged in my Garmin and it was dead. I also couldn't find my sports headphones to take the call and had to steal my wives iphone headphones. I didn't get out the door until after 7 and I had time for a very short warm up of two laps. I felt pretty stupid trying to take the call but I didn't want to back out of the race. I announced my presence and put the phone on mute. The headphones were uncomfortable so I ditched them and tried to listen to the call on speaker. This was the beginning of the end because I somehow didn't mute my phone and I was causing interference on the call. When someone complained, I got it back on mute but somehow hung it up shortly thereafter. The phone was too sweaty to operate after that. So, no watch, no iphone GPS and no idea how many laps. As Fritz lapped me, I asked how many. He told me he was done so that meant one lap left. It certainly wasn't a fast effort, but solid. It also warmed me up for an impromptu coed medley 1200 start. Again, no watch but I stayed right ahead of Rob, so given his time of 3:51, I must have been right about 3:50. The team took first (out of two teams and with men running 9 of the 10 laps) so I got a nice return on investment though I didn't feel great taking it. This is a really great idea for an event. I think it has so much potential to be the bragging rights race of the year so I am hoping it gains more traction. Though I've seen Allie and gotten to know her a bit through the blog, this is the first time we've spoken in person. She and James are big assets to the local scene. I had to hurry back home to be with the kids while my wife got her haircut so no cool down (other than a delicious green popsicle). No time for another run today so hopefully a good long run tomorrow.
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