The Watermellon Run In Muscatine Iowa

How did I get talked into another 5K?  I could blame Cheryl and her infectious passion for running.  Or I could blame myself for feeling like I could do better than my "Run For The Wienies!" Either way,  I found myself waking up at an insane hour to travel to Muscatine for another race.  Only this time, I would be a participant instead of merely a spectator.   Oh how twisted and tangled the paths of life may seem when traveled...

But there I was.   Putting a chip on my shoe and preparing to run my second  5K while Cheryl ran the 10K.  ( Twice as far as me.. She is such a show off!) Hey!  That's fine.   My goals were not simply to survive or finish. I actually wanted to do slightly better than last time.   And having set the bar so incredibly low... I felt I could at the very least achieve some small victory for myself that I could be proud enough to blog about.  

So pre- race notes.   Make sure you go to the bathroom before the race.   As many times as you need to!   Even after three visits, I still needed to go at the start line.   Luckily, after mile 2, I stopped thinking about how I had to go.   Unlike Cheryl, I can't simply pee in someone's front yard and be OK with it.  People tell me that that level of confidence will come as I race more, but I don't know if I want to expose myself to strangers that badly.   ( So far... anyway.) 

The rain held off for the race.  Which was nice.  I really did not want my second run being any more miserable than it already was.   And I know I can run in the rain just fine.   I have before!  In the Army.   And I have biked and stood out in the rain during Cheryl's events in the past.   But I think you need to ease into misery gradually.   Build up to a level of Misery Tolerance before jumping into the "Deep end of the Pool" so to say.   

We missed the barbershop Quartet singing the National Anthem... again!   Why did they not announce it over the speakers?   I love the National Anthem... And Male Quartet singing!  Two great sounds sounding great together!   Like a Reeses for the ears...

Not a lot of pictures when the photographer has to RUN THE RACE!   But I did manage to beat Cheryl  and capture her as she crossed the finish line.   Sure!  I ran half as far... Details! Details! But I think it was an accomplishment to finish ahead and have to time to grab the camera from the car in time to catch her finish.   From the pictures, you can see she is dodging 5Kers who walked the route. (I never walked!) 

As the results came in.   I discovered that the number 4 had some meaning to me this run.   I was #4 on my bib.   I finished 4th in my age group.  I have 4 fingers on each hand! 

Ok,  I made that last part up for Comedy,   but the other two signs have to mean something!  4th place meant I was not eligible for a watermelon prize. And I really wanted a Watermelon! Could this be fate trying to tell me something?   Could this be used as motivation for any future acts of physical exertion? 

Or you could just buy a watermelon from your favorite Amish Farm stand.... Which I eventually did!  So maybe I missed the message the Universe was sending me.  I'm sure it will send me another signal in the future.  

By the way,  Cheryl managed to finish 1st OVERALL female in the 10K.   ( Show off!)  And the universe sent her a signal by bumping her DOWN to the "Master's Winner" and giving the "overall winner" to some girl Cheryl passed  at mile 5.   I wonder what THAT means?  Either way, the prizes for age and excellence were the same:   A sippy cup, a bib, a $25 gift card for something, and a Watermelon. 

The sippy cup was nice.   And the bib could be used for other things.  Do my descriptions of her prizes  make me sound jaded?  Perhaps.  Maybe because Cheryl did not want to share any of her goodies with me.   And even though she will not use the cool  water bottle,  she would rather keep it on  a shelf for several months as a trophy  than give it to me to actually use.. ( Since I lost my favorite water bottle/ coffee mug last week during the move.) Ah well.... I can always buy another water bottle at my favorite Amish Farm stand.  ( Do they even sell water bottles?)

In the end,  it was fun.  I got to hang out with Cheryl for a few hours and we got to share the experience.  And we had an excuse to visit the Amish Farm stand that I have not seen since last year. ( no water bottles though...) 

Back to work today!  And since this blog post is already long, I will have to leave some other topics on the cutting room floor.   Perhaps I will be able to blog about them later this week.    I have been rather lax in my blogging as of late.   I need to work on that.   Even visiting other blogs has become less frequent as I usually just sleep after working all day.  But if other people can blog every day, I can certainly try a little harder.  (Hmm... "Trying harder." Where have I heard that before? )  Thanks for stopping in!   And I hope everyone had a Wonderful Weekend.