My ears won't stop ringing. At first, I wondered whether it was just from the road noise of spending two hours in the car right before bedtime. I thought, this is as bad as when I come home from rock concerts without having worn earplugs. I was slow to piece together how much loud music and crowd noise has buffeted me in the last 18 hours. I earned every dizzying decibel of this ear ringing. I'll be lucky if it has quieted down by morning.
We got up early this morning so the Mr could run in the Bolder Boulder 10k again. Just like last year, he only decided for sure to register and run a few days before the race. He did absolutely no prep. No, strike that. He shaved his head ("more aerodynamic," he joked), and picked out a previous year's official race t-shirt to wear. (And a hat and sunglasses, so no, there was no added benefit to a shaved head other than evaporative cooling.) Last year he had been having back pain in the days leading up to the race, and discovered moments before the starting line that it was a kidney stone, and yet he still finished the race in just over an hour. This year he felt fine, but was one more year away from mandatory physical training, so his run time didn't change much. It still impressed the hell out of me. I didn't walk as much as last year. I dropped him off a few blocks from the start, and then I drove up on University Hill to find a parking place. I parked much faster than I expected, and got much closer, so that I arrived in the stadium right as he was about to set off. I probably shouldn't have sat in the sun the whole time, but what's done is done. I don't seem to be suffering yet. I'm better off than the Man, anyway, who had some cramping in his calves after the race. Maybe next year he will actually work up to it, so recovery is smoother.
I don't hang around the 10k scene often enough to be numb to the costumes people wear. I like it when the college kid runs by in a business suit and tie. Or when I saw the handful of guys who were dressed like pro-wrestlers from the 1990s. I wondered how the three guys who were painted silver head to toe managed to sweat and stay in full makeup. And I was jealous of the physicality of the dozen or so Marines who jogged in formation, and detoured into the infield for a bunch of push-ups before they were allowed to jog on across the finish line.
I am not yet ready to commit to running or walking in this race, either next year or any year after that. If I find myself in peak (for me) physical condition, I'll do it, based on how I feel the weekend of the race. If I am as out of whack as I am this year, then no. Not going to do it at all.
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