45 degrees
6.2 miles/55:43/get in gear
ford loop
A beautiful morning for a bad, disappointing race. As usual, I ran too fast in the first mile and then fell apart in the second 5k.
What do I remember from the race?
- the giant American flag and Scott remarking, “not sure where it fits on the ‘perkins/gander mountain spectrum’ but it’s big!”
- the funky black and white shorts on the runner just in front of me
- listening to other people sing along with the national anthem and feeling unpatriotic, tired of nationalism
- feeling like the 15 minutes we were waiting in the start corral was taking forever
- not seeing or hearing any of the annoying pacers
- hearing the steady striking of moving feet of all the runners around me
- a runner who hovered near me smelling like watermelon, which made it hard to breathe.
- running close to the curb in the grit (mostly soft dirt, some sand), shuffling along–a satisfying, calming noise.
- feeling like I wanted to stop, feeling like the St. Paul side of the river road was taking forever
- a runner running by blasting heavy metal music through her headphones, so loud I could hear her approaching from a few seconds back
- hearing a kid calling out, “mommy, mommy” as we approached the ford bridge and then a runner stopping to get a hug and drop off their hat
- running on the sidewalk of the ford bridge with most of the runners while only a few ran on the blocked-off road
- a car horn honking loudly–was it in support of us runners? annoyance for blocking the road? a warning?