We're back to 13 again...... *sigh*
Saturday, Mike and I did the Fort Atkinson Half Marathon. What a great race! Tons of good schwag (tech tee, backpack, medal, pancake breakfast, lots of giveaways, and wet towels at the finish), the city was so friendly and welcoming, the course supported well, and the spectator presence was unreal. Everywhere you ran people were in the driveway, had sprinklers going, had hand made signs made, cowbells, etc. EVERYWHERE. My only disappointment was I understood this was a flatter course and I would call it quite hilly, not big hills, but lots and lots of little rollers that grab your attention all the way through it. Despite that, I would do this over and over, thought it was just a real gem. Plus I was far from the slowet person there, which never happens!
For this one, I was thinking I would do the songs at each mile that kept me moving forward.
1. Vampire Weekend: A-Punk. Love this song, it makes me laugh and reminds me of the movie Stepbrothers. Great to get you going, very upbeat. Spent this first mile picking my pace bunnies. There were a handful of power walkers behind me and I was determined they stay there. I played leapfrog with a lady (I'd pass her, she's pass me, etc) in this first mile and up the first bigger hill. There were a couple of other folks I picked to pass later on. Picking people to pass helps keep me focused on forward motion and not on the mechanics of the run.
2. Beatles: Octopus's Garden. Passed two twenty-something girls who were chatting and jogging/walking early on. They looked very chirpy and I named them "the cheerleaders." Passed them and never saw them again.... it was just too early to for that level of perky.
3. Alexa Rae Joel: Notice Me. Great song. Continued to play leapfrog with the lady from the start. Together we passed Cubs Cap guy and his momma (It never pays to run in basketball shorts), and then shortly after I passed the old dude in the green shirt. It was pumping me up to continue to pick people off. I call this sniper running - picking people off one at a time. What can I say? It helps me pass the time...
4. Anthrax:efilnikufesin-n-f-l. This mile was dedicated to passing the leapfrog lady. At one point as we were running past an aid station, she held out her hand, shook mine, and said "Nice to meet you, I'm Mary Ann, and I suspect we'll be seeing a lot of each other today." We talked a bit during a walk break (she was from Illinois, gave me advice from the running clinic she went to (um, yeah) and told me I needed one of those Ironman watches that you can program for intervals (uh, I was wearing one....), and told me her son was training for an Ironman. I let her run ahead again as I walked up the hill, then I got ahead of her on the downhill and that was the last I saw of Maryann. By the way, you really shouldn't sing along to this song when there are others around. Not everyone appreciate the lyrics....(NFL- nice fucking life!)
5. The Dollyrots: Brand New Key. At this point in the run, I was wondering just exactly was meant by what I had heard about the course being pretty flat. It was pretty frigging hilly for me so far right from the beginning. I passed the pink top girl in this mile. Then she passed me, then she stopped in the portapot and and I got ahead again. She passed me again in a bit and walked a 100 or so yards ahead of me a while as we walked up a hill. I spied a small person in green basketball shorts ahead of her. I intended to pass them both soon, but first I had to walk up the hill.
6. Gwyneth Paltrow: Country Strong. This mile started in the country and headed back to town. I passed the pink top girl for the final time and then came up on green BB shorts guy, who actually a boy about 13 years old. I gave him a thumbs up, said "halfway there!" and executed the pass.
7. Hot Chella Rae: Tonight, Tonight. Love this song, always pumps me up. Sang it for a while and didn't care who was listening. Sometimes you just gotta do what ya gotta do to keep the motivation to keep moving.
8. House of Pain: Jump Around. "I'll serve your ass like John McEnroe/.../if you come to battle bring a shotgun..." Somewhere in this mile while this song was on, I passed 2 more random people.
9. Billy Joel: You're my Home. I heard this song come on as I was passing over the river through downtown Fort. It made me think what a perfect song it would be for a first dance at a wedding and I started sobbing a little too myself. This little lapse of sappiness made me realize I was probably skating on the edge of bonking a bit so I ate some powerbar gel chewies from the pouch I was carrying and - VOILA! - no more sappy crying as I slogged along :)
10. The Police: Canary in a Coal Mine. Passed another pink girl. The streets here were very hilly and domed so bad I had to run down the middle of the street to keep from feeling like I was leaning sideways. I thought, seriously? More hills? This is nuts!!
11. Alien Ant Farm: Smooth Criminal. We were headed through downtown and the farmers market. I Picked a lady to pass up ahead who was soon being paced for a few blocks with hubby and kids. I waited, since it felt mean to pass a woman with her fan club watching, so I hung back and kept it easy Pretty soon, she pulled off to the side and was doing some stretching for her back and I executed the pass without contributing to her losing face. Cool.
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| I need a nap after all that! |
12. Cake: The Distance. Passed a girl I called Thirteen. She looked like a shorter chubbier version of Dr House's Thirteen from the show, and she was the 13th person I passed. Somewhere in here, there was a lady on a bike in a medical shirt who was shouting at me "Go Jenny!" "This is a short day for you!" Looking good Jenny!" Obviously she knew me. I did not have my glasses on and she was going by me so fast, I couldn't focus her face before she was too far away to make out he face clearly. I was tired and didn't have the presence of mind to say I need my glasses -who are you? I felt like an idiot, because I couldn't place the voice even though I recognized it. (Later found out it was Julie (Plautz) Neppl, who I went to grade school through HS with.....duh.) Sorry Julie, I wasn't myself and was blind as a bat :)
13. Pitbull: I know you want me.In this last mile I played leapfrog with weepy pink shirt girl. It took me a while to figure out she was running with a constant medical escort. I quit passing her because it felt wrong, this seemed like an important moment for her and I don't know what leads to a personal escort, but I wasn't going to purposely rain on her day.
.1 Lady Antebellum: I Was Here. In these final couple blocks, I ended up passing her because she slowed way down and I just couldn't slow anymore, I needed to be done. Mike was nice enough to capture my finish on his phone. Thanks? I had no idea there was so much jiggly stuff going on . Wow.
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