Dawg Bite

It's Dawg Dash weekend! The 25th annual Dawg Dash that is. Super if you're a runner or a Huskie fan, not such a big deal if your loyalties fall with Washington State. I've never been one to even come close to understanding why alumni become so freakin passionate about their teams. I mean crap, most people never played a sport in college and they graduated decades ago, let it go....Maybe I don't "get it" because I didn't have the opportunity to live that college life. I spent years earning my degree by going to school at night. Working all day, school for 4 hours a day until 10:00pm, study, homework, wake up and do it again. That's a long haul...more years then I care to remember. All I know is that I had long hair when I started and couldn't find my hair by the time I finished. I'm glad I did it and I value the time spent and the knowledge earned.

My 5K weekend started Saturday night with Albert as we got together for some pizza and catching up. It had been too long (my fault) and it was good to kick back and shoot the shit. "Shoot the shit" - where did that phrase come from? I don't really want to know but farms and cow pies come to mind. Anyone reading this not familiar with a cow pie, just know it isn't something you can order at Sharie's or the French Bakery...

Our conversation flowed and the pizza was fantastic. We also had a couple suicide blondes. I know what you're thinking, a suicide blonde sounds a lot like a $20 hooker. Rest assured that while that may be true, in our case it was a type of beer. Not being a big drinker I quickly downed the first one and moved to the second. Yes, by now my second blonde was much more attractive than her younger and now forgotten sister. I was however a complete gentleman, sipped rather than gulped, made no promises, and might have even used my real name. I got home and maybe, just maybe stumbled across a bit of rum. How it got there I do not know. What I do know is that Sunday morning came quick...too quick. Thought I might need a bit of the "hair of the dog" - defined as a measure of drink intended to cure a hangover. Thankfully I didn't really have a hangover. My head hurt a bit but I have been spending an awful lot of time thinking these days - that can do it you know. My tummy was whispering to me in an outside voice but then again, now that I have a couple abs, maybe it was just wanting a little attention.

We had quite the racing crew. Albert running the 10K, Heather, Iain, Jen, Robin, Sharon, and myself tackling the 5K (note how everyone is in alphabetical order - very tidy). We noticed the moon which seemed to be full - I love a full moon, so cool and the Fall foliage was beautiful. Sharon commented that every Fall should be this beautiful. She's right, the colors were amazing. The weather on the other hand was terrible. Rain....rain....did I mention rain? Had a dash of wind pop through from time to time just to say hi. When race time approached we had to climb out of the car - had I mentioned that we were piled in the car trying to stay warm and dry? 9:00 comes as we decide to get out and warm up. No sooner did we step out and the big guy upstairs opened the heavens and down came the buckets of rain. It was so stupid it was funny.

Now by the time we hit the bathrooms to ah, let's just say it, pee and get warm (Ok, satisfied now?), the rain stopped. We all slid into our personal warm up routines to get ready for our race. Some do more than others. Sharon and Albert knock out what seems a mile or two. I simply jog around, do a couple strides (strictly to intimidate the competition), and save my juice for the race. It's limited and I hate to spend it early as the recovery time is a good 20 minutes.

The race itself was fairly uneventful. We all run at different paces so other than seeing Sharon disappear in front of me early on (same play, different race), I ran my race the best I could. The first half of the course is all incline and I do my best running downhill. A week ago I had tossed out there that I would finish in the top 10 in my age division. That's saying something for this race because with a couple thousand runners, it's pretty competitive. I don't do it to be cocky I do it to put competitive pressure on myself. For that extra push. I'm glad I did because I wasn't feeling 100% but knew that I better push past the side ache and queasiness. Turns out that I finished 5th in my age division and 76th out of 1205. You can read that again if you want.

Our rockstar today was Sharon. Though she lied about her age, er, I mean accidentally wrote the wrong number down - I too have always thought 3's and 4's looked a lot alike. I might have to have a talk with her parents about this as I've seen this before and we may need an intervention before a pattern develops. Regardless, she came in 1st in the age divisions 30-39 and 40-49 which are the two most competitive. She was 3rd overall for woman and finished 40th out of 1205 runners. Too bad she had to leave right after the race because there's a medal with her name on it.

Everyone had a great race. Albert came through the 10K finished 14 of 110 in his division and 83 of 1077! Iain and Heather - our husband and wife team - hit paces of 13:09 and 11:39 respectively. It was Iain's first 5K! It's so cool because he's been walking while the Tri group ran and has worked his way to a 5K. I hope he's hooked because it was so sweet to see the two of them celebrate and congratulate each other - lot's of love there. Jen smoked a 9:23 pace and finished 16th of 140 in her division - way to go Jen, you are getting faster!!! Maybe Devil Hill is your friend after all! Though Robin has completed several Tri's, this was her first standalone 5K. She kicked a 10:32 pace and was 48th in her division of 156. Coincidence that everyone did so well AND are members of the now world famous Tri team? I think not!

Race complete and freebies consumed, it was time to go. Sharon had already left as Little T was having his birthday party today. That kid is such a crackup, but I'll leave that for another blog. Which by the way I may do. I've been told that I should blog more often which means I'll have to share my thoughts on more than just a race experience. I like to write and if you can stomach them, I invite you to come around from time to time and give me a read. Oh, back to my original line of thinking. We were leaving...Yes, leaving. Well wouldn't you know it, the heavens opened up once again and it was a down pour. We got to the car soaked to the skin and cold. Funny thing is, I wouldn't have changed a thing. That's a lie. I would have changed a couple things - one being my time :)

You may have noticed that this blog is not as dark as a few of my most recent. While not every day is a great one, they are getting better. Friends can make such an amazing difference and they should never be taken for granted but instead embraced and thanked for what they give, who they are. Many of the Tri team are running the Pineapple Classic in a couple of weeks. I look forward to that and the training that will take place between now and then. Multi-Sports is around the corner and that excites me too. If it delivers half of what the Tri program did, it'll be a home run. Until the next time, do your best at whatever you do, forgive when you can, hug often, and know that hearts don't change, people do. If in doubt, Run...don't jog.