Post-Tang's own version of what I'd assume was the plot of "Eat, Pray, Love", what they (theoretically) don't tell you is that upon return to reality, running again will be tough. After the half marathon that I half-assed, (side note about that "race": high fives all around from cops and kids in super hero costumes, ran on the second wave like an idiot, playlist chalk full of Boston Calling acts because, I ran it in between the festival: run the jewels, st. vincent, beck, tame impala's "elephant" on repeat for the last mile), the 5k was another gauge to see how far off I had fallen since my two month Epicurean sabbatical.
Still following me?
Of course an 8 day stretch from Hell appeared before this race and personally something came up the night before at the Sox game; par for the course at this point.
So for the first time I would pick my bib up on race day like a rookie at the Cambridge Mall which would be critical in the fact there was a water fountain and bathrooms of the non-portapotty variety. Friends were met up with, time to warm up for a mile. With 10 minutes to go, the announcer let us know that massive American flag was the split between, I kid you not, "fast runners", and "slow runners". I naturally sat in the middle. It actually worked better than corrals.
With the anthem, all of us shadowed by the flag looked up with our hands over our hearts. The first mile, with people actually obeying the fast versus slow pace, went smoothly. All I can remember is this runner making a wide curve around someone to just get ahead by one person. I made it a point to not lose to him and with my veteran savvy, know that the first mile and a half is fool's gold. Hang on and the runners fade.
How do I know this? Like always, at mile 2 I faded. Maybe if I tell myself to run hard for four miles, I wouldn't have this issue. I also started the dry heaves way earlier than usual at the beginning of mile 2 so I slowed a bit. Like always, I sped up at the last tenth of a mile and passed three people.
21:55.
Pasta from CPK and 4 beers later, ran a 4 miler home and here we are as I type.
It was definitely nice to know my race course ahead of time from previous excursions and to know how to get there with the T (even directing a kid how to use it)...slowly turning in to a Bostonian?
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