Me and Janet waiting for our runner to come by -very spirited at Birch Bay, maybe annoyingly so. The race got off to a good start- we were all running well even in the high temps, our pace was fast, we were having fun. We even got to go out for burgers after the first leg and relax.
Me and Janet at about 9pm thinking we might get some rest. Do we look like we're ready to sleep? We were worse than ten year olds at a sleepover.The second leg was a bit more turbulent. My portion of the leg began about midnight and very shortly there after- it came to a crashing demise.
I was nervously cracking jokes about my van not leaving me alone too long with all the pervs out and all (really, there were none but when I get nervous, I kid). Vans can leap frog a night runner but they can't stay next to them for safety reasons. I headed out the street and under a viaduct- it was pitch black so I adjusted my headlamp only to find that I lost all perception of the road and CRASH- down I went. Down, off the road, into some gravel. I can't tell you how startled I was to have hit so hard. I jumped up and not knowing what to do, began to limp ahead. When my van caught up to me I gave them the report, "I'm hurt, I'm bloody and my ankle is bad". And just because I don't quit, I continued the rest of the four miles completely aware that I'd done something quite stupid.
One of the many boo boos.The remainder of the night I iced and popped ibuprofen until we arrived at the stop jut past the Deception Pass bridge on Whidbey Island. About 3am we pulled out our sleeping bags and joined hundreds of bodies in the state park surrounded by the trees. We had a full two hours to get some sleep and it felt so good to lie down and stretch. Literally seconds later a very bright flash went off followed by a boom and all you could hear was a sea of groans as tired runners schlepped back to their vans with their bags. A nice storm followed that kept us all stuck in the very odoriferous van.
The view at 5am at the Deception Pass State Park-storm had passed and the sun was just ready to get up.About 5am I realized I couldn't run my last leg that morning. Heck, I could hardly get to the honeybucket. I have awesome teammates and one amazing one, in particular, ran for me. (Thank you, Andy!)
Andy, sleeping with his beer. A quick nap is much deserved for him!So we finished, I saw the medic, determined the ankle was sprained, the hip bruised and got the gravel out of my elbow, got a shower and headed to the party at the end. I'm bummed that I'm injured because this is a very busy week for us and I still need to be training for the next races coming up. Hurt or not, I still had a blast and of course, I'll be back next year. (Perhaps with a few more lights!)
1 comment:
Whoa, that all sounded very eventful! I think I should do a relay with the sistahs. Before we go and get all knocked up next summer or something, that is.
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