So this happened today:
That is a smug asshole face if I ever saw one. Please note that it says half-marathon on that medal.
But Megan! Didn’t you say you were downgrading to the 5K because you decided to do Ride the Rideau instead of the half-?
Yeah, but that got cancelled.
Did you train?
Not really.
Wait, haven’t you been diagnosed with anaemia?
Yep.
Aren’t you on antibiotics for a sinus infection?
Uh-huh.
Haven’t you been complaining about insomnia for weeks, including in the wee hours of last night?
Well, yes.
Then what the hell were you thinking?
I was thinking that I needed to kick my own ass out from under the Ziggy cloud and take on something huge. I didn’t want to go to the corrections counter to downgrade when I picked up my race kit because that was admitting more defeat, and I just couldn’t let myself do that. There would be thousands of people faster and hundreds slower no matter what, right, so why not just do it? So I did it, I am not dead, and I have another medal to jangle on my door.
It would be a great time to say ‘And it was my best race time ever!’, but in actuality, it was my worst by far. It was, however, the half- I enjoyed doing the most because I had no expectations and no goal beyond finishing. Also, it was a ridiculously beautiful and crisp fall day, which helps make a lot of situations infinitely nicer.
Update at almost 3pm: I have maybe made a huge mistake. My head and ear hurt worse than ever. Praying to the Sinutab gods and Mr Fleming for assistance.
Lady, you’re awesome.
Dude! We thought you were too sick to run! I would have made you brunch! Chris said he had a great run, too – gorgeous day for it. Well done, my friend, well done.
The only people who knew were those I ran into yesterday after making this rash decision. My fear of failure made me too chicken to let y’all know. Sorry! (And congrats to Chris! That’s a great time!)
I am proud of him too. He’s hurting tonight though – not enough training.
/me leers at blau
Nice job with the butt kicking. Hopefully you didn’t kick it too hard and you’re better soon.
congrats! i would never have been able to convince myself to do that. i probably wouldn’t have even done the 5k, citing illness and lack of training as my main reasons and convincing myself i was being sensible instead of lazy. i am really impressed!