Last Thursday, I was at a company holiday breakfast and there was an extra plate of pancakes on the table. Some of my co-workers were daring me to eat them even though I’d already finished a big omelette and a couple of pancakes. So, I did what you would expect me to do: I texted my wife and asked her if I could run a marathon that Saturday. She gave me the green light and I began my carb load. Hello pancakes! Actually, goodbye pancakes!
The race on Saturday was a small race and the main reason I wanted to run it was to run it with a friend of mine who was running it to celebrate her birthday. I also wanted to check out the course, because the race was being put on my a man named Charlie Alewine, a really nice guy I’m working with to put on three races as part of Operation Jack next year. I wanted to check out the course because it’s a possibility for one of my races.
There was no race-day registration, and it was already Thursday, so I dropped Charlie a line and asked him if I could run the race. He told me I could and that he was looking forward to seeing me. He also told me some of the entrants, and they included a running friend of mine named Sally, who I haven’t seen in a while, plus another running friend named Joe, who’s a real treat to talk to.
Unfortunately, I was still batting bronchitis, but I wasn’t too worried about that. On Friday, though, my friend who was running the race to celebrate her birthday told me she might be a no-go. She had some things going on and there were very legitimate reasons for her decision. I was in contact with her Friday evening and it really sounded like she wasn’t going to run the race. I told her to email or text me if she was going to run it, and I’d make my decision when I got up on Saturday morning.
Well, when I woke up, there was no email or text. I figured she wasn’t running the race. I still had a pretty sweet cough. But I told Charlie I’d be there. I didn’t tell my wife about the Charlie factor in the equation, but she knew my friend wasn’t going to run the race. Unable to make a decision, I asked Tiff at 4:20 in the morning what I should do. She suggested I shouldn’t run the race, and I thought she was probably right. I was just bummed about being a no-show. Of course, Charlie has so much to worry about on race day, I figured he wouldn’t think twice.
So, I caught up on my sleep and crawled out of bed at about the point I would have been 20 miles into the race. I sent a note to my friend to wish her a happy birthday and carried on with my day. Later on, though, I found out she actually ran the race. BUMMER! All those pancakes for nothing and they should have been for something!
I planned to go out on Sunday morning for a run to at least get some exercise for the weekend. I had a nice bowl of spaghetti or dinner on Saturday night. Unfortunately, Benjamin (my 8-year-old) was up for three hours in the middle of the night with an ear infection. He felt terrible. No way was I going to go out for 20ish miles on three hours of sleep. I’ve run a marathon on one hour of sleep, but I had to. I didn’t have to do that run and ruin my day by being fall-asleep tired afterwards. So, I skipped it. Two big carb meals wasted!
When I woke up on Sunday, I checked my email and found BUMMER #2 from my friend Sally. Charlie was waiting for me on Saturday morning. He held the race for 20 minutes thinking I’d show. I just wanted to crawl under a rock. I need to contact Charlie and apologize. I feel terrible. But there’s no going back to Saturday, I guess.
This morning, I guess third time was the charm. I went out for 20.1 miles. Kind of a blah run. I couldn’t make up my mind about going slow or fast, and by the time it was done, it was just kind of a lousy run. But it’s done. At least I got some exercise.
That’s all I have for today … hope your weekend went a little more according to plans than mine did!
Katie Abdolhosseini says
Don’t beat yourself up too bad! You had to do what you had to do. You didn’t know about your friend since she didn’t text you and Charlie chose to hold the race on his own accord. Things and life happen, don’t beat yourself up! And sorry about the cruddy run today, but the good news is there is always a tomorrow. Happy Monday! 🙂
Ally Phillips says
I had a crappy no run weekend–we had to leave supppppper early to catch our flight home and of course, I thought I could get up at 4:30 to run before we needed to leave the house–after all, I did it all summer long. Yeah, it’s a lot harder to get up at 4:30AM in the middle of December when it’s 20 degrees out. Oh well. There’s always next week…..