And the Monuments Watched.


Post Shamrock 8K: Virginia Beach, VA 21 March 2009


Sandra and me PRE Ukrops Monument Ave 10K: Richmond, VA 28 March 2009

If you live in these parts you know about the Richmond Monument Ave 10K every March, and if you are in running circles you certainly know about it. Almost 30,000 people is no small number. Matter of fact, it is one of the biggest races in the world. Nice huh? Even nicer that I ran it, and this year marked its ten year anniversary. Running with that many people is somethin’. Running and seeing people as far as the eye can see in the front and back of you is pretty dammed awesome.

Those 6.2 miles were amusing in their own regards. The highlight/point of this run is the course up and down Monument Ave. Literally, you are running with the statues. There is something pretty amusing about that. Even more amusing . . . running past the houses with the frat boys sitting on the upper decks slamming back their beers. Nice, yet very classic indeed.

Running/walking the course you never had to worry about getting lonely. There were always people around (for sure with that number of entrants), and cheerers were around from all parts. That was good. I didn’t have anyone out there to cheer me on, not that I really wanted anyone, but a friend from ODU ran with me. Well, Sandra ran far, far ahead of me. So instead, I jammed to my iPod, smiled at the cowbells, giggled at the Greeks in every color and flavor, and the monuments watched me kill myself on the 6 mile course. I will never be a good runner, and I will never have a body like a supermodel, but I do it none-the-less. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. I only run for the high. Also, I do some pretty damned good thinking when I’m out there.

Now, I bet you want pictures? Yea, that ain’t gonna happen. I just saw the proofs from my Shamrock 8K in VA Beach two weeks ago. My fat ass ain’t gettin’ in front of no cameras this side of summer. Seriously. Besides, the proofs from the Ukrops run won’t be up until later in the week. And for you jerks who want to ask: NO I wasn’t last. I came in as number 22024 with a slow assed pace. Several thousand trucked in after me. Suck it. I completed my first 10K, and exactly a week before I did it I completed my first 8K. Both were BIG races. I've got my club cards, do you?

For the record, I have taken off ten pounds. I got back into my summer cargo crops today. I love 'em, and anyone who doesn't can suck it. They are a little snug in the waist, but I got them on. I’ve got ten more to go (these are post smoking chunks folks). But, I’ve been running off and on for years. I’m just finally doing it in earnest, to cope with the status of much of my life, and the meet people. Meeting people doesn’t go so well in the middle of nowhere, but it’s all good.

Oh . . . and my crazy ass is running a half marathon on 17 May. My LI guidette friend who lives in Fredericksburg is going to cheer or gag me on. Let’s hope she doesn’t deny knowing me.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The 2024 of 2024.

Image
An Emporia, VA sunset.   In the run of things, 2024 was one of the hardest years of my life.  It began with a friend dying unexpectedly, and it ended with a new heart wound that I'm still processing.  It's been dark around here these days.  It's been dark for ages, actually.     My Dad's cancer was confirmed before Thanksgiving, the Wednesday the week before, to be precise.  In a phone call, as he was driving home (and stopping to see my Mom), I called him, and he told me.  He'd barely found out himself.  Then . . . Then, I made a phone call to an old friend of mine.  Little did I know that act would undo me.  Back in 2020, shortly after my sister passed, I was told that when it came to the heartbreaking, bad news, we called each other . . . no more texting things like "my sister has cancer" and "my sister died." It made sense; she insisted that we call from now on.  In all these years of being separated by ocean and ...
Read more

Ammunition and Mountainsides

Image
 Two weeks into a six-week solo voyage, I finally felt my nervous system start to settle.  Settle after nine months of constant alert, nine months of wonder, nine months of life on hold.  Since April, my Dad's throat cancer has been clear, but the lung is being watched, and the trach had to come out weeks after the last radiation.  My Mom has been holding her own.  They're stable, and for the most part, my autoimmune chaos has been manageable.  Mom and Dad needed me here, in the states, so I took a few weeks this summer to scratch off a handful of National Parks and a dream--long overdue--road trip I've long talked about.  So, two weeks into a six-week hiking trip, I finally felt myself settle.  The solitude has been a welcome relief from nights and days of endless dark wonder.   In Montana, after visiting Kansas City, Wind Cave and the Badlands in South Dakota, Yellowstone and Grand Teton, and Custer State Park (SD),  I felt myself...
Read more

Writer's Notes.

Image
I've been writing again, and here's something different.  Vignettes and notes from the long piece I'm finishing this week.  Sometimes, the fiction we write can leave marks.  Deep marks.   While in Greece I've been working on the day job and getting back to my roots and me.  Enjoy the notes and windows into the next phase. Next time I'll pull out the notes on dating again.  Joy.  Now there's an absolute joy, so much that at one point I forgot how to speak English at the luscious advances of an American in Greece.  (Note the dripping sarcasm).   Greece has my heart in many ways, even with a stress and workload--this year--of epic proportions.  I am obsessed with life here, I keep coming back, and it feels like home time and time again.  Since that first voyage in 2013, when my best friend had to drag me back on the ferry to Turkey, to now when I wander Athens.  I stroll along these streets with such ease, knowing this c...
Read more