Joe had to get his 18 mile run in… as did our friends Denise & Gary .. so with all good intentions I convinced them that 6:30 am on Saturday morning (amongst the monsoon of a tropical storm) would be a perfect time to meet up at a local park for the 18 miler… nice and flat… perhaps a bit moist but none the less flat..
I myself was on a taper for Chessy man… so I only had to run 8… so the thoughts were I would run out with them for 4, run back by myself 4..as they would continued on… I would get back to truck, hop on my MTB bike with a backpack full of bottled water and haul a-s to catch them.. thus provide sag support… Great stuff… right!???
Well…. when we woke on Saturday @ 5am… not only did I have double bags under my eyes the humidity was at 95%. …geez…. another swamp run! ….we scraped our tired butts out of bed and into the car.. meeting up with Denise and Gary… it was still kinda darkish and the gates for the park were still closed… didn’t think of that.. so we stood around discussing where we would park…. here.. no how about there..?? no ...how about over there???.
So I decided to move my truck from the service road over just a bit... so no one would hit it.. oh yeah... really funny .. since I took out the right corner panel of my truck.. C-R-U-N-C-H…. hitting a 6x4 cemented wood pylon!!.
NOW who puts a pylon in the middle of a service road… !!!!?????
[ok.. so I admit.. actually it really was NOT in the middle of the road… but jeez it mines of well been..] ..you would have thought I hit the thing at like 40 mph..!!!
Not only did I take out the pylon… I took out my front panel in which now you cannot even open the passenger door, and its all crumbled up and JEEZ>> JEEZ>>> JEEZ!!!!!!!
well… Joe was VERY VERY QUIET… Denise made mention, “wow he took that well”… quiet is NOT WELL!!
Alas… we start off on our run under the tone that ….well now thats outta the way... I am sure not much more can happen.. right???!
Within a mile we were all soaked… but we trudged on…. when we got to mile 4, I peeled off and ran back to get the MTB bike.. Joe, Gary, and Denise carried on..
On my return back, my pace so tanked with 2 miles left.. I was lucky to crawl back to truck… Once back to truck .. I SOO SERIOUSLY thought of not returning.. honest... I was toast... but alas they were out there and counting on me.. and most surely would kick my butt if I did not return.
SO like the good little sag wagon… I got the MTB out of truck, glancing over at damaged truck panel, shook head, put helmet and backpack on… and headed down path.. I calculated in my twisted mind that I could catch up to them around mile 11 or so if I go 20 miles an hour …..
Now the fact that I was on my MTB bike and that I had these really huge tires with only like 45 pounds of pressure in them.. and a backpack on which instantly added 15 pounds of weight... well all this should have been an indication that unless I was super girl I was NOT pulling 20 mph on this MTB bike.... I finally catch up to them and I see Denise and Joe… I stop and they refuel… Joe says I need to find more water…
I leave them and get to Gary who is only slightly behind them and he refuels and then I turn around an haul a-s to find more water for them… after going a few miles and frantically searching the surrounding areas I realize that the closest water fountain is still 4 miles down road… so I race back to tell them this….
I then go and find Gary to also tell him this… I get to Gary and realize my front tire is about to fall off… I had to stop ASAP and screw it back on.. I only stopped for one second.. and was almost done screwing it back on (mind you still on my bike) and this all takes total 10 seconds.. when an A-HOLE… guy.. on a race bike.. thinking he is all that.. .. zipping along..passes us and says, NOT A GOOD PLACE TO STOP!”
[.. WHAT THE F_!!!]…. I SCREAM…., “MY tire was about to fall off A_SHOLE… !!!!” I mean what the F_... !!
He is probably one of those people when someone’s car breaks down in the road screams at the person like they wanted it to breakdown right in front of him.. just to inconvenience him.. AND BY THE WAY.. he could have easily gone around me without any ado..
People like that soo piss me off… Who do they think they are!!!!! I ride my regular race bike on this same path and yes its hard to reduce your speed from 22 to 17 but HELLO this is not only a bike path… it’s a walking and jogging path and IT AINT yours buddy..you aint the only person in the world!!! AND DEAL with things that happen!!! AND GRRRR>>>>
So Gary unaffected by my sudden outburst and me possible putting the beat down on this guy we continue on.. I ride besides Gary as he runs… after a few miles I see Joe up ahead by himself…I haul up to him and find out he REALLY needs water so I say ok.. I will go to the next fountain… I spend the next few miles up and down path.. getting water, dispersing it to the folks and riding besides them… WHEW.. being a sag wagon is tough work!
Alas… they all got their 18 miles in.. I did 8 miles on run plus 17 on bike.. one damaged truck and one almost beat down… I think everyone went home and took naps… life of a marathoner!
