Runnin' Down a Dream (of Alcohol and Hot Dish)
"My favorite thing about running is drinking afterwards."
I shared this nugget of wisdom this morning with Chad while we were running the Hot Dash 10 Mile. Actually, it was one of the few things I said during the slightly more than an hour and a half (yeah I'm a little sensitive about our time but more on that later) we spent running because I was too out of breath to talk. Is it ironic, or carefully planned strategy on Chad's part, that we were participating in "couple-time" and I couldn't really speak?
Today's Hot Dash is the longest race that Chad and I have run together and that's an amazing, and I dare I say, romantic feat. (See my previous post about we haven't been able to run together: http://peppersprout.blogspot.com/2015/02/another-holiday-milestone-chad-and-i.html). I've always found running with someone else and matching their pace tricky, and it's especially challenging when the runners are of widely varying ability. Simply put, Chad is a much faster runner than I am, so he had to slow his pace way down and spend a lot of energy trying to set a reasonable pace and keeping track of me. For my part, I had to work relatively hard to run fast enough to even make it physically possible for us to run together. I admit I got a titch testy a few times during the race, but we did it!
...And I've mostly gotten over being disappointed that I ran slightly more slowly than I did last year. Okay, my overall time was less than a minute slower, but I felt like I was really pushing myself today and that romance should have made me faster. (For those who care, my time today was 1:31:11 and last year it was 1:30:23).
So romance didn't make me speedier, but I do believe we scored high on the romance-o-meter as evidenced by this mid-run quote from Chad today: "After more than 25 years, you still surprise me." Just how did I surprise my beloved? By asking him, as we ran by Psycho Suzi's on the return leg of the route, if we had already run by Pscyho Suzi's. (We had).
No matter if I run with Chad or solo, I do dream about having a post-race drink during a long run. Okay, drinking after any activity is usually my favorite thing (unless I can drink during an activity) but there is something especially delicious about the buzz you get when you are physically exhausted. Today I had to wait almost seven hours before I could enjoy my post-race drinking in earnest (I'm sure my gentle readers aren't surprised that this drinking is occurring while I write this post.) The not-quite entire can of Finnegan's that I had at the official post race party was lovely (after 10 miles I felt I could go wild on a beer) but not exactly what I was aspiring to.
The post-race party was also lovely because they gave us hot dish (they even had a vegetarian options) and we got to make a new running friend and hear "Come On Eileen." Unfortunately, it was damned cold and my hands were starting to go numb. I've learned that cold weather running really isn't that bad but enduring the pre and post race chilliness sucks.
Next up in Chamy's big racing adventure: The Get in Gear Half Marathon (oh lordy, THREE more miles) at the end of April. I'll just have to make sure I can have a Bloody Mary right after the race and maybe I'll be faster.
I shared this nugget of wisdom this morning with Chad while we were running the Hot Dash 10 Mile. Actually, it was one of the few things I said during the slightly more than an hour and a half (yeah I'm a little sensitive about our time but more on that later) we spent running because I was too out of breath to talk. Is it ironic, or carefully planned strategy on Chad's part, that we were participating in "couple-time" and I couldn't really speak?
Today's Hot Dash is the longest race that Chad and I have run together and that's an amazing, and I dare I say, romantic feat. (See my previous post about we haven't been able to run together: http://peppersprout.blogspot.com/2015/02/another-holiday-milestone-chad-and-i.html). I've always found running with someone else and matching their pace tricky, and it's especially challenging when the runners are of widely varying ability. Simply put, Chad is a much faster runner than I am, so he had to slow his pace way down and spend a lot of energy trying to set a reasonable pace and keeping track of me. For my part, I had to work relatively hard to run fast enough to even make it physically possible for us to run together. I admit I got a titch testy a few times during the race, but we did it!
...And I've mostly gotten over being disappointed that I ran slightly more slowly than I did last year. Okay, my overall time was less than a minute slower, but I felt like I was really pushing myself today and that romance should have made me faster. (For those who care, my time today was 1:31:11 and last year it was 1:30:23).
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| Race swag. This year they are giving medals for every race, which is pretty awesome although we're not really sure what to do with them. |
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| I'm sure Josh would be proud of us. |
The post-race party was also lovely because they gave us hot dish (they even had a vegetarian options) and we got to make a new running friend and hear "Come On Eileen." Unfortunately, it was damned cold and my hands were starting to go numb. I've learned that cold weather running really isn't that bad but enduring the pre and post race chilliness sucks.
Next up in Chamy's big racing adventure: The Get in Gear Half Marathon (oh lordy, THREE more miles) at the end of April. I'll just have to make sure I can have a Bloody Mary right after the race and maybe I'll be faster.
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