Sleep, Jumper cables, Puke Solo Cups

After having a lovely night at McCormick and Schmicks, I had my car valeted for the 2nd time to my knowledge and the headlights were switched from automatically turning itself off to on all the time.  Note to self and all: always check that post-valet.  To my surprise the next morning, my car wouldn't start.

Panic?

No, take a 2 hr nap and be okay with walking to work. Upon telling this story to friends, only would a runner be okay with not having a car.

Found out 1st hand sleep 2 nights before is more important than the night before thanks to a rotating schedule of fun going from 2nd shift to 1st to 2nd then to 1st.

And as for today's run?  Dodging all that St. Patrick's Day has to offer: vomit and solo cups.

The Lottery and goals for the year

So the results of the Chicago Marathon travesty continue to not surprise me; for the 15k spots left, 36k entered. Knapp got in and I (rightfully so) found an e-mail in my spam folder that sounded like a college rejection letter.  "Thanks for applying but unfortunately blah blah blah".

The bad news: we won't be running the Chicago Marathon.

The good news: we won't be running the Chicago Marathon.

So if we go back to the original plan of no marathons this year, I can run the New Hampshire half in the fall with an ex-resident.  What goal do I have in mind for this race?  After this morning's run with Providence running buddy Angela, apparently I will have to run sub 1:40 since she has run a 1:46 for the Newport one.

St Pat's 5k Race Report

"Photoshopped"; I am actually not in this pic as I am in real life 10 seconds behind.

The first race of 2013, St. Pats 5k in Providence, 11:15 am 3/9/13


Going in to the first race of 2013, I would be lying through my teeth if I said that I wasn't scared of Knapp heading in to this race.  Case in point, I may have gotten too cute with the racing strategy that was hatched by Coach Bober which entailed following for mile 1 then taking off (if the pace was honest).  Would this strategy work?  What strategy would Knapp bring to the table?

Excuses upfront: The nights leading up to this race was erratic at best what with third shift the week before and lack of sleep nights before.

Knapp, Sri, and I headed for Providence Place Mall the morning of, got our bibs and hung around the cold and windy weather, wearing appropriate Guinness sweatpants.  For some reason, when Knapp and I were getting our tech tees, a volunteer took one look at us and kept emphasizing the large and extra large shirts.

Knapp and I warmed up for around half a mile 20 minutes before the race, de-sweatclothes'ed ourselves and snuck in to the top 50 runners of the loosely-termed 'corral'.  It was apparent we snuck through walkers galore that were upfront.

British MC in the house along with the Mayor and the man that I tortured to get us a team of the first Pawtucket Half led to the 1 pre-recorded 'Star Spangled Banner' CD that Rhode Island owns.

As the MC counted down from 10, my GPS watch stopped as I had to start it up right before crossing the line.  I followed Knapp throughout the first mile as we were running at a blistering 6:30 pace through streets that had parade-goers unsure of what madness they were watching.  6:30 is a place we had no right to inhabit which was reflected in the rest of the race.  Here is where the caveat was lost on me when push came to shove: "If the pace was honest".  Lesson learned.

I tried to make what I could muster up as a 'move' and couldn't have been ahead by more than 10 seconds from mile 1 to 2 where I dragged through at roughly 7:00 pace.  I kept looking behind me thinking Knapp would come from behind.

Most of the race was out and back except for a turn in to a hilly neighborhood that threw me off since it was the opposite direction of the map I thought I had found of the course. Around mile 2-2.5, Knapp popped up and gave me a fist bump.  I just became a rabbit and now, my lunch was about to get eaten.

Contact was growing further and further and as I saw that there was a 400 left, I had left my kick back at mile 1.  Knapp finished roughly 10 seconds ahead and I knew that we were not sub 21.  The emcee was making fun of everyone's music selection as they sprinted in (something about Elvis Presley was being uttered as I tried to hold back throwing up); thankfully I avoided this by going sans music.  Do I want music in the future?

Hats off to Knapp for winning our first actual race and I can't wait to lace em up again for round 2.

Special shout out to Sri for being our soccer mom, carrying our suspicious looking black plastic bags with future race adverts and our tech tee, and for the original pictures for the mash up above.

Lungs are screaming and the take home message is to run your race evenly.