so i ran into a tree....
so hi. my name is alejandra and i run into things in the dark. awesome. nice to meet ya.
what? with my car? going 50 mph? on a one lane highway?
no.
with my body, going appx'ly 11:35 minutes/mile, on a running trail.
mmmmm-hmm. i am that good.
so but okay. the story...
i arrived at Roma Coffee House (the TNT meeting point for the feared 22 mile run) at about 5:45 am. we began running at about 6:10 am. unbeknownst to my coach, apparently, IT WAS DARK. i'm not talking huh, its kinda dark out, i'm talking I CANT SEE THE TRAIL INFRONT OF ME dark. like.... dark. cuz hi. its fall now, and the days are shorter and.... ITS DARK!!!!!! apparently nobody felt like pointing this rather obvious fact out to our coach, so we all just started running... because we're robots and do things like run 22 miles at 6 in the morning, because our coach has decided this is a good idea.... obviously we're not functioning at full capacity.
but, regardless, on we went. along the street, onto the trail, into the woods....
yes, you read that right, we ran through the woods in the dark. are you seeing where this is going?! mmmm-hmm.
so we're running along, and i've made a command decision to RUN VERY SLOW for the first 8ish miles so that i dont bonk at the end, so i'm totally plodding along at a ridiculous pace and people are passing me left and right (and boy does that just do wonders for the spirit!!!!)... anyway, so i can kinda see people in front of me, and i hear people behind me, but for the most part, i'm having to navigate this course on my own and i can't see and its just a ridiculous situation. there's mud or leaves or something on the trail, acorns everywhere, so every 5 minutes i'm having to react to getting one (or nine) of those under my feet, its a very windy course, etc etc.... all this dictating that i stare, HARD, at the trail, cuz i do not want a twisted ankle.
and this would have been a great plan, this staring at the ground/my feet plan, if it weren't for one thing.
trees.
it went something like this...
run. run. oooh, i think the path veers right. run. stare at trail. search for acorns. and puddles. veer left $#%&@*! ouch what the, ou#$%^ sh#$%^ get off #$%*& omg what was that? did i just.... did i.... omg did i just run into a tree?
a tree ?? how is that possible? who am i??
the answer? yes. yes i did. and it were'nt purty. but i glanced infront/behind me...nobody saw... so i just took a quick laugh-hysterically at myself break, turned back onto the trail and kept on runnin...
turns out (because i had to run past it several times in the course of my run) that what i ran into was the top of a tree. see... a tree had fallen, and was lying kinda half on the trail, and i, being, ya know, the mega-all-star that i am, ran into the top of it... the branches. got all tangled, and....so yeah. i ran into a tree.
i win the gold-star for RBF moron of the day. (week? month? year?...lets not get into it!!)
mm-hmm. yeah. gooooooood times. and this was just at like mile TWO. oy, and oy.
Comments
DATE: 4:41 AM
I know that was humiliating but it was very funny. Sooo, how did the rest of the run go? You are leaving us hangin'!
Posted by: Michelle | July 4, 2006 8:03 PM
DATE: 10:53 PM
=)the question: if a tree falls in the woods, does it make a sound? an answer: "...$#%&@*! ouch what the, ou#$%^ sh#$%^ get off #$%*& omg what was that?"you decide.
Posted by: J | July 4, 2006 8:03 PM
DATE: 10:06 PM
where in relation to "galactic moron" does "gold-star moron" rate??so are you planning on keeping the rest of this 22 (!) mile run a secret?? how did it go?
Posted by: Danny | July 4, 2006 8:03 PM
DATE: 9:02 PM
You're not the moron, the coach is the moron!! what was he thinking??Anyway, you DID IT!!! And posted by 11 a.m. (wait, that's central time, whatever, it took me til 11 p.m. to post) and I think you were brilliant to go slow so as not to bonk. I love slow. Slow is brilliant. No bonking, or puking, or passing out. I used to feel bad about slow, but no more! not after today! Come on, give us more details, and p.s. YOU ROCK.
Posted by: jeanne | July 4, 2006 8:03 PM
DATE: 5:37 PM
oh you poor thing! at least you kept running. i think i would have sat myself down and said to those passing "come get me when you are done." how did the rest go?
Posted by: mipper | July 4, 2006 8:03 PM
DATE: 1:35 PM
LOL! so how did the remaining 20 miles go?
Posted by: plods | July 4, 2006 8:03 PM
DATE: 5:32 AM
Good Grief! I'm late on this one, but are you ok? Congrats on your distance! You are ready to taper!!!
Posted by: Stephanie | July 4, 2006 8:03 PM
DATE: 5:33 PM
Girl- I would TOTALLY do that. I am a walking/running mess. Luckily, right now I am running with folks who actually bring flashlights and I mooch off of their light, but still fight to stay upright!
Posted by: Jennifer | July 4, 2006 8:03 PM
DATE: 8:01 AM
Ahh! Well I hope you came out okay with the rest of your run :)I've had a lot of fun reading some of your entries...I was drawn to your spot because I often ask myself since I started running: why am I running?As a 24 year old self proclaimed soccer player, I find running, well, painful. About a month ago I convinced myself to train for a 10K over thanksgiving to keep my training for winter indoor soccer on track. Who would have thought that so far, I'm really enjoying myself! Looking forward to reading more of your posts!!
Posted by: Mia Javier | July 4, 2006 8:03 PM
DATE: 3:24 PM
Hey - if that's the worst part of your 22 miler, that's something to be pretty happy about!BTW, congrats on the mileage! Hope your training continues to go strong (minus the obstacles)!
Posted by: Joseph Vinciquerra | July 4, 2006 8:03 PM
DATE: 5:11 AM
Enjoyed your blog...can relate to the dating issues :-) Congrats on the long run, are you enjoying the training?
Posted by: Twiggy | July 4, 2006 8:03 PM
DATE: 4:57 AM
How was the rest of the run?!? And no worries, I'm sure we've all run into trees at some point, even in broad daylight. :-) At least in San Fran we shouldn't have to worry about running in to a random tree.
Posted by: ncmunchkin | July 4, 2006 8:03 PM
DATE: 8:26 PM
OMG! I've SO done this! But mine was a potten pine tree thing. OH, you're so in the club now ;)
Posted by: Wil | July 4, 2006 8:03 PM
DATE: 7:24 PM
cute. only you would cheerily share a crashing into tree moment. congrats on long run! i'm thinking it went well, que no?
Posted by: partyrunner | July 4, 2006 8:03 PM