Just do it

We made it, folks! Our first 10K done together. We both managed to come in around 1:03 which put us at approximately 10:10 minute mile! (The GetInGear10K.com website is cool about giving you an exact read from when you first cross the starting line to when you finish, thanks to this handle little electronic device placed behind your run number) I'll do my best to spare you the minutiae ("Went to be early, got up, drank 1 liter of water and a glass of Muscle Milk. Breakfast was 1/2 banana and a slice of wheat toast...") Blah and nope. Instead, we had some observations which we found interesting, weird, perplexing, and gross. I'll save the most gruesome one for last...

1- Holy crap it was crowded. It was a cold and drizzle McTizzly morning when we arrived at the VA med center parking lot. They had buses shuttling people to the starting gate but the line was prohibitive to say the least. (Per Moda: "If there is one thing I hate, it's waiting") Since it was only a mile to the pavillion we opted to hoof it. This was a good call. It got us warmed up, and our legs nice and springy . And it made for better people watching. (Maniacs. Seriously there were people sprinting past us. Hard. F. Core.)

2-Once again, I find myself feeling like the "Bad News Bear" of the particular sport I'm involved in. With karate, it was usually just a simple case of having mismatched gi's or hand-me-down bo's. No biggie. Here, I'm running in a t-shirt and swimtrunks (which, to be fair, were totally appropriate due to the biblical level of rain) when everyone else is wearing Under Armour or rain resistant mesh by-weave and special running gloves. (What? You need gloves to run? Why is this blowing my mind?)

3- I did pass a dude who was running in jean shorts. Jean. Shorts. So, you know, at least I wasn't that dude. Epic fail for him, and the dude hiking through Moab in penny loafers.

4- There was a distinct lack of Kenyans. IJS.

5-Never discount the power of a cheerleader. I won't lie. 6.2 miles might not seem like much to some folks but there comes/came a point, ohhhhh, around mile 4.5 or so when I was feeling it. Not that euphoria hooey either. My breathing became labored and I think I got first hand what an asthma attack feels like. .2 miles left and my vision got fuzzy. And past mile 5, my quads were singing a horribly off-tune song.

But the folks who'd yell "Great job, runners!" and "Almost there!"...heck, there was that weird girl who kept materializing every other check point (who, unless she was triplets, had to be driving from check point to check point) were really helpful in pushing through to the end. Thanks, nameless masses with the cowbells who laughed when I yelled back "MORE COW-BELL!!!"

6-A lot of runners have nice asses.

7-There are still quite a few that don't.

8-Moda was chagrined at the noticeable lack of Vibrum runners (for the record, due to the rain she refrained from wearing them. This time) but you should have seen her head dart around after hearing that distinctive clip-clop noise on the pavement.

9-We've been training for around 2 months now and our long runs have been 8-9 miles so far. But in spite of a fairly flat (and scenic) course, 6.2 miles kicked our asses two ways from Sunday. When we were done, Moda's already frassy hip and my frassy lower back were screaming. We swung into Pizza Luce' afterwards to reward ourselves and to watch her cross the street was like watching a senior citizen who forgot their walker. Seriously.

10- Female marathonists are also hard core. While we were waiting in line for our shuttle they were announcing the female half-marathonists coming around the bend...an hour and a half after the race had started. 13 miles in 90 minutes. Whoa.

11- Thankfully, there were no sightings of anyone making a mess in their pants. (Which Mo gah-RACIOUSly was able to direct me toward on the interwebs. Note to self- There are entirely too many YouTube videos of people s#itting themselves. PS- Martial Arts peeps can check out the BJJ match where this happens. Dude picked the wrong day to wear the white gi.)

12- UNfortunately...there was a bleeding nipple sighting. Gah. I can't believe I typed that. We were waiting in the long queue to exit the parking lot which was next to the shuttle drop off point. We'd periodically comment on the folks we'd see. (To the people who were still running? Quit showin' off. Martyrs) Mo was futzing with her Ipod when I saw the dude just...walking across the parking lot. In a white t-shirt. With bright red bloodstains running from his cannons...And you know, why white? Really? You need to advertise? Sheesh. Any way I pointed this out to Moda who took a second for it to register but her reaction was pretty damn stellar if I may say so. ("Hey look at that. Bloody nipples."/Beat...beat..."oh my God....OH MY GOD!") I mean, I guess I lucked out with only a little chafing around my belt line and a dime sized blister on my arch.

Hell of a thing to see in real life. I mean why white, dude. Gah.

Anyway, we hobbled home and later that night treated ourselves to pizza and Thai food for a job well done. Next up? Over twice that distance. While I'm certainly starting to understand the run-culture which has Moda in it's thrall, I'm not too sure I'm meshed in with it. One thing is for certain, and that's realizing that training is only about 60% of it. The rest? Mental. And here's me, who can't keep focused on one topic for more than 20 seconds.

Eep. D-Day indeed.