Johnny's 20th Runnin' O' The Green

I don't particularly like this race. I mean, I like that it exists. It's iconic. It's accessible to everyone, from 5 minute milers to first time 5 milers, even those who want to run while drinking beer (I don't know why anyone would do this. It seems like there is less drinking of the beer and more sloshing the beer everywhere. But I have seen people doing this every year I've run this race. And I guess there are weirder ways to celebrate the death day of an Irish saint). So it's a great race. It's just that if I'm going to pay money for a race, I'd rather it be a really long, small, snack-filled party in the woods than a short, very crowded and jostle-y party on a road. But Pete likes this race and I like Pete so here we are again this year.

How Pete prepares for a race: wakes up leisurely (at I don't even know what time since I am already out the door), drinks coffee, reads the news or looks up random things on the computer, gets dressed very slowly in stages. Stages 1-10 are mostly just him walking around in his underwear until I say something like "Nice running outfit, honey." Stage 11 is him realizing his one running jacket has a broken zipper. Stage 12 is him putting on something that is camouflage and/or says Navy on it. And then he is ready to go.

How I prepare for a race: wake up before it's light out, drink water, poop, run 5 miles to cough up and snot rocket out what I hope is the last disgusting remnants of the flu I had last week, return home to eat first breakfast (PB toast!) change into a green shirt and poop again, hug George several times, cut the top off of my hat because I never liked it as a hat and have just had the ingenious idea to turn it into a buff instead, pin my race number on 3 different ways before it comes out not entirely crooked. Wait for Pete to be ready to go.

I wasn't looking forward to this race. It was cold and crowded and those aren't my favorite things to be. Pete was like "Have you heard of prepping? It's where you prepare to have a good experience. It's nice out, it's warm..." And I was like "So, it's just lying?" It was not nice or warm (nice and warm is 75+ degrees and I can wear shorts and a tank top). But it was sunny and we were going to breakfast afterwards. He should have lead with that. Then we got hugs from Mort, who told us he was going to be announcing names at the finish line and I asked him if he would give us funny names when we finished.

Once we started running I was happy. Because running. And because I don't care about racing but I do care about running with my favorite people (or strangers who will become my favorite people). And Pete is strange and also my favorite person. I let Pete set the pace and just ran along, watching the weird parade that is a massive road race. There was colorful spandex everywhere. A spectator said "You're almost there" about 0.2 miles into the race. It was impossible to get lost because the course is literally just run out 2.5 miles, go around a cone and run back the exact same way. We got passed by a jogging stroller. Pretty typical road race stuff. During the last mile, we saw Ron out taking pictures and he captured this epic shot:

Photos Thanks to Goat Factory Media

Then he ran ahead of us and worked his photographer's magic to make us look like this:

Pete ran the whole 5 miles without stopping and without any breathing problems! This was his longest run so far this year and he said he felt good, so mission accomplished. As we approached the finish line, we saw Steven who had come to cheer, and Pete asked me if I would hold his hand. So we finished hand-in-hand while Mort called out "Megatron and He-man!" We grabbed some water, drove Steven back to his car, then went to Balsam to get bagels.

And that is how you take a day that is not nice and not warm and fill it up with miles and people and awesomeness and two breakfasts.

Lyric of the moment: "There is an answer in a question. And there is hope within despair. And there is beauty in a failure. And there are depths beyond compare..." ~Death Cab For Cutie "Black Sun"