Sunday, December 11, 2011

jingle bell 5k

deadlines can be a good motivator. then why is it i'm typing this instead of studying for my finals? i guess because i love procrastination.

last week 7 of us BRS'ers met up to do this little 5k with a few thousand other close friends of ours. we met another BRS'r before the race who is more of a lurker, Todd. i made the call to meet up in front of a bar before the race. no, not to drink, they weren't open at 8 am. i wanted to go for a nice little warm up run before i kicked off my huaraches and went bare for the race. Nick is the only one who joined me.

we met jdleon, suzanne, janson, paraganek, and joshh at the bar. we got our packets from jen who organized the team sign up. PG didn't get his packet for some reason so jen gave him hers. amazingly she got a faster time than me even though i finished before her.

about a mile into the warm up run i had to get rid of excess water. i went to a gas station hoping they would let us in. this place is on burnside which is just across the street from chinatown, skidrow. everything is locked up in soda coolers. i don't think i've ever been inside there and i don't frequent any stores in chinatown so i was slightly surprised to see this. i talked the attendant into letting us use the bathroom. he was reluctant but nice.

i feel i should mention i picked up nick and janson, yes that is his real name, for the ride to downtown portland. both are from small towns. when i crossed the street against the light and in the middle of the road they were hesitant to say the least. they looked at me as if i was the first barefooter they ever saw. ;) i harassed them, what else would you expect from me? they had to follow me as they had no clue as to where we were going.

on our way to the starting line nick and i got to see the kids fun run. we watched in envy as some of the kids had perfect form. we felt sorry for the others wearing tanks on their feet. you could spot the difference even with our old, poor, glasses wearing eyes.

jen called us to get to the start. i'm glad she did as i thought we had like twenty minute until the start. it was only ten. we met everyone and stored our stuff. when we started stripping clothes and shoes people started freaking out. josh had brought a few wigs for us to wear. he, janson, and paraganek wore bright blue curly wigs. i was left with a mullet. ya, i butt rocked it for the race.

we made our way to the starting line. splitting up and finding each other again some how. josh took off to the front. he's fast and competitive. PG would've been there with him if he wasn't in a bit of pain. he hung out with me this time and we picked up nick, janson, and suzanne. jen was with us but went on her  one of her constant potty breaks and started from further back.

suzanne shocked me when we finally started running. she said her goal was to keep up with me for the race. i asked why shoot so low? we laughed. i am doing maf training but decided to just go for it. i was going to speed up each consecutive mile. it was nice running in a pack. everyone was following right behind me. that part was weird. as runners would comment about me the others would pass. they tell me the people got quite uncomfortable. little do they know i heard nearly every comment.

i'm not hardcore. i'm not tough. you guys in shoes are the hardcore ones. you're all wearing a lot of extra weight on your feet. that's what i wanted to say. believe it or not i kept my mouth shut. i'm thinking maybe i should make a tshirt with that on the back for races. i chose not to be such a smart ass. it doesn't help speaking to a large audience but works better more one on one or to a small group.

before a mile came up nick blasted by us. at the time i didn't want to catch him. i just let him go as i wasn't ready to speed up so soon. right after that the front  runners started coming back. the guy in the lead was just coasting at a sub 6m/m pace and he made it look effortless. the others who followed you could see were working hard. joshh was one of them. i yelled loud at him and he smiled. scared the other runners around us who at barely a mile in looked life they were miserable. so i shouted out good morning to everyone. still no response.

we saw joshh and the others at an underpass. this was the roughest section of the race. it was not much fun on the way back. there were way too many joggers and walkers to run on the painted lines. the walkers were supposed to go after all the runners. we all know how people listen nowadays.

after mile two i told janson i was having a good time watching all these beautiful women's behinds. i wanted to grab a few of them. he smiled. as this was only the second time meeting and first true run together he didn't know me that well. by this time i sped up. i saw nick and couldn't control myself anymore. i went to give him a smack on the left cheek. i wound up moving to his right side so when i hit him i hit his hip instead hurting him and my arm a little. he was like wtf. he tried to chase me down to get me back for it but couldn't catch me. too bad for me as i hate not knowing when he's going to pay me back for that.

next pg took off. i tried but couldn't catch him. i was wearing my hrm and still breathing through my nose. the hrm was beeping the whole race as i ran faster than what i have preset. at this time though my hr got over 190. i had to slow down a little. there was no way i was going to catch pg. i kept a pace close to 190 until the end. i felt good but i noticed that i was hungry a lot faster after this race than when i normally run slow and burn fat.

we run to the plaza as we hear josh's name announced. he and todd are on stage singing i can't remember what. actually todd was singing with joshh just smiling and bouncing along. they got on stage to get free tshirts. the whores.

after everyone got together we searched for a bar for the obligatory post race beer. nothing was open. we found one place finally. rock bottom brewery. i wouldn't normally mention their name but they gave us our drinks and food for free. $50. it was way beyond anything we expected. they did it because they weren't prepared for so many people to come in on a sunday morning. i guess they didn't know there was a race going on. we sat about twenty minutes before we got help. yes, we will be going back.

we talked and got to know our newest running members. jen gave us our tshirts and we said our goodbyes. it was a fun day but at 11 am it was only the beginning. time to go do other stuff. here's a pick of the five of us together during the race. none of us ever, so far, brings a camera. well, except for the time when pg brought one to take a pic of chelsea from Germany for our group run with her.





there was a blurry pic online of josh at the starting line. amazingly no one can find a pic of jen. she's a ginger with BRIGHT red hair so you would think you could find a pic of her easily. no such luck.

1 comment:

  1. Hahaha! That's awsome Mike! I had a lot of fun at this race, next time I will try to make sure I bring my camera or have my wife there so she can take pics.

    Oh and I can't wait to pay you back.... You left a mark.

    I'm thinking the next race I may do a 10k, hopefully we can get a big group for that one as well.

    ReplyDelete