Races 37-39

I’ll admit, after the high of my 50k, followed by the high of my Beer Mile triumph, it was hard to keep the races going. Luckily I had you guys to help me through races #37, #38, and #39!

Race #37 – Race Across the Bay

Date: November 8

Type: Run

Distance: 10k

Shwag: Tech shirt, which features the Maryland flag and a medal. Also pictured, the artistic treasures, created especially for me by my cousin’s daughters

Shwag and artistic treasures 

The very first race I ever did, back in the early aughts, was a 10k called the Cooper River Bridge Run, in Charleston, SC. I did the race because my cousin, Jen, was living in Charleston at the time and talked me into doing the race. So, when she suggested I visit her, this time in Annapolis, and do a 10k across another bridge, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge this time, I kind of had to do it. 

I planned a long weekend so I could get caught up with Jen and her family. And, as an added bonus my cousin Jess, her son, and her mom (my aunt) came down from Philly so it turned into a semi-unplanned, mini family reunion. If that wasn’t enough, Jess also did the race with me!

I had thought this one was going to be a solo gig, and I was so glad that it wasn’t. Ever since the 50k, my motivation’s been lagging a bit. That’s a completely normal and fine thing, except that I still have more races to go (including a marathon, which I’m trying not to think about).

So, my weekend was filled with family and fun, and it was wonderful. The race was also pretty wonderful too. Out of all of the races that I’ve done, this was one of the easiest and smoothest, which is saying a lot for a race that has about 30,000 people. The only part of the experience that was a little iffy was packet pickup. But that was only a problem because it was cold and raining and packet pickup was at Navy Marine Corps Stadium, so it was primarily outside, with a little bit of covering. 

Go Navy!

But, on race morning, Jess and I woke up only semi-early. We ate breakfast, and then Jen drove us to the shuttle stop that was right up the street from her house. We stood in line for like two minutes and were then on a bus on our way to the start. When we got to the start, we got off the shuttle, walked a short bit to the start, and then we pretty much started.

Most of the 6.2 miles is over the bridge, which was kind of neat. I thought I would stop and take a lot of pictures but it pretty much looked the same the whole time. Don’t get me wrong – it was beautiful, but it all pretty much look the same.

It pretty much all looked like this

Overall, it was a beautiful day – a little windy at the top of the bridge but nothing too bad. And, having lived so far away from water for such a long time, it was so nice to be running over a huge body of water. Also, having lived the majority of my life in PA, I’d traveled across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge lots and lots of times on the way to and from Maryland beach vacations so I had a bit of nostalgia about being on the bridge again, and I do like a little bit of nostalgia every now and then. (Okay, pretty much always.)

After the race, we collected some post-race food and pretty much got right on a shuttle bus to head back. From door to door, the entire thing took us a little more than two hours, and we were running for one of those hours. That’s about as good as it gets!

Race #38 – The Denver Gorilla Run

Date: November 14

Type: Run, in a gorilla suit

Distance: 5K

Shwag: A gorilla suit (Yes! You get to keep the suit), Gorilla Glue, some little tube of moisturizer stuff, good post-race food and beer

No race shirt, just a gorilla suit

Okay, yes, this race was a little pricey for a 5k but you get to keep the gorilla suit! And while I’ve never really had a situation where I’ve thought, “gosh, a gorilla suit would come in handy right now,” I still think it’s a good thing to have on hand because you never know.  

This is an easy and laid back 5k that used to take place in downtown Denver but has recently moved to Westminster. There are good things and bad things about the move. Good: It’s closer, parking is easy, it made it easier for me to do my 2.5 hour “pre-run,” the setting for the post-race festivities was really quite nice. Bad: It’s not as festive and you don’t have random pedestrians who have no idea why hundreds of people are running around in gorilla suits.

Still, it was fun, especially since I was joined by Barb, Doug, and the Jens. That’s a nice little turnout for a kooky race!

The crew

One of the traditions of the race is to put a costume on your gorilla costume. I had planed to wear an old lady bathing suit but the one that I bought from Goodwill was way too big (gorillas are more svelte than you would think) so I had to go with a last-minute switch to sock-monkey pajamas.

The pajamas were definitely a crowd pleaser. I mean, I was a gorilla wearing sock monkeys. That would be like Elmer wearing pj’s with little poodles all over them. But, while the pj’s made my fellow runners happy, they made me hotter than heck. It was a warm and sunny fall day, definitely not the kind of weather for a black furry suit AND some flannel pj’s. It was the hottest I’ve ever felt in a race, which made it pretty miserable at moments. But I just kept thinking, “All this sweating is good training for Hawaii...”

Other people ran with their masks on but I just couldn’t take it. I wore the gorilla mask like a hat, which made me look like I was wearing a really bad black wig. So, yeah, basically I looked amazing.

I trudge along in relative misery and probably walked as much as I ran. Still, I was able to pick off a few bananas, which gave me an odd sense of satisfaction and pride because, man, those costumes looked so much cooler than the gorilla suits.

Anyway, despite the sweatiness, it was way fun race, with way fun people and a fun one for #38!

Me and my wig

Race #39 – Pumpkin Pie 5k

Date: November 21

Type: Run

Distance: 5k

Shwag: T-shirt, medal, some assorted food, post-race pumpkin pie, and a race packet first – toothpaste!

Toothpaste? Toothpaste!

I got weirdly excited about the toothpaste. At this point, when all of my races are starting to blur together, the little things like that really stand out.

Last year, JenSki and I did this race, and I don’t even remember why, especially since it was ridiculously cold and a little icy and treacherous. Here’s a picture from last year, where it’s quite clear I’m saying something like, “this is freaking ridiculous.” It was so cold last year that, as you can see, I’m wearing shorts over my tights because I needed a little extra warmth.

Freakin cold last year

I was hoping this year would be better. And it was… But the thing is, it was still cold and somewhat treacherous. It just wasn’t AS cold and treacherous. Still, it wasn’t ideal conditions to drive down to Denver for a measly 5K, so it’s pretty amazing that JenSki came back with me again, along with Barb, Bob, Jenny, and Orla. This 40-for-40 people has really gotten me and some others to do some crazy things!

The gang. Just mostly cold this year. 

While the conditions weren’t ideal, they could have been worse. This would have been a much better weekend for the gorilla suit, for sure. I finally warmed up after about two miles but I don’t think I was ever really that warm, probably because I was running pretty conservatively. I think all of us almost wiped out a few times but, unlike last year, I didn’t actually see anyone wipe out, so that was good. Still, it was a little scary at times.

Snowy statue in City Park

But not for Bob! Bob was fearless. He went for it and was rewarded by winning his age group by something ridiculous like eight minutes. It was definitely impressive! We stuck around for the awards ceremony so we could cheer for Bob but, since it was freezing (technically, it was well below freezing…) we didn’t stick around much longer than we needed to.

No shortage of pumpkin pie

After Bob collected his booty, the Barb, Bob, Jenny, and Orla car headed back to Boulder and Jen and I went to the same brunch spot we discovered last year. I can’t quite remember the name of it but it’s a short walk from the race, and it’s super yummy. It was a nice way to reward ourselves for waking up early and freezing our butts off.  

Brunch. A little nicer than the pie. 

All in all, not a bad race for #39 and, if nothing else, it made me really, really happy that my next and final race is in Hawaii!!!!!

Gratuitous beach photos coming soon…