So, what was I busy doing?
How can you ask that? I ran the Nike Run Hit Wonder 10K today! You never pay attention, do you? I’ve only been talking about this for freakin’ weeks now!
I think I did pretty good. (Yeah, I’m calmed down now. Don’t know what got into me. (Was it funny for you? It was for me!))
Funniest thing was spotting someone in the crowd I knew. I mean, it wasn’t like we were looking for each other. There were over 10,000 people there. Probably way more, since there were 10,000 runners plus all the support staff and security guards and friends and families… so the odds of spotting someone at any particular instant started at 1 in 10,000. OK, probably less than that; human faces are instantly recognizable and the brain is very good at pattern-matching, and even in a dense crowd there’s probably 10-20 people in someone’s direct view. But, what would you calculate the odds of spotting someone in the crowd, immediately after another friend asked me if that person was racing that day? Huh? Huh? That’s one of those weird coincidences that just jump out at you.
Me, being a materialist and not a believer in coincidences that mean something, I just shrug it off. But man it freaks people out when I tell them.
Jake (turning to face me in the crowd): Is Deb here?
Me (knowing that she was planning on running this race): Yeah. (pause) And there she is!
My chip time was over 2 minutes less than my gun time; that’s how long it took me to cross the actual start line after the race officially started. Wow, there was a lot of people. I wore a stopwatch, and started it when I crossed the start line, and paid attention to my splits for each mile, carefully judging my pace and all that… kept up with it, until mile 5 (around 48 minutes at that point)… then died on the last long hill up Columbia away from the river, and when I turned onto Broadway, it was sweet and all downhill, and I was flying, and I had a clear shot at the finish line, didn’t have to worry about blocking anyone else or having to slow down, and then I was through, and I’d finished my first ever official 10K race!
I was so excited I forgot to a) check the race clock for my time, and b) stop my stopwatch. Bummer. I’ll have to wait for the official results to be posted.
It was a fun race, though. My friend, being much faster than me, got to hear each of the acts playing their actual one hit. Apparently they started their sets with their most famous song. Me, lagging behind, got to hear them play, but didn’t recognize the songs.
For instance, who is General Public? What was their hit song? I’ll google it after posting this, but, for the life of me, I can’t recall.
Seeing Devo was great, and I was a little disappointed that the audience started leaving after they played “Whip It!” The younger friends in my group were impressed that I knew the words to some of Devo’s other songs, like “Freedom of Choice”. OK, just that one, but still.
I’m going to run that race every year. A fun, fun, race. Nike put on a great event (no surprises there) and the proceeds benefited Portland Parks and Recreation. Nifty!