Bridge to Brews 2011

This morning I ran the Bridge to Brews run, like I did last year with my friend Chris. Chris is out of town studying about how to write really good stories about me, so I had to settle for a different Chris this year. A less Asian and scholarly Chris, but a Chris nonetheless.

I mentioned before the Shamrock run that I had some problems appropriately preparing for the race, but this time I knew well ahead of time that I would be running the BTB, so I could better ready myself. This races’ preparation began two weeks earlier, when I strained my achilles’ for a week and then was sick for a week, thereby forcing me to take a long break from my strenuous training and be well rested for this run. Then of course there’s the night before the race, when it’s especially important to take adequate steps in getting ready for the big run. First it’s essential to watch your favorite sports team lose, while you eat lots of baby carrots and brown butter cookies. I thought it would help to abstain from drinking, but I observed the winner-to-be enjoying some whiskey cokes and Bud Light, so next time I’ll add that to my routine. Next you should play some mini basketball, and finally let yourself be lulled to sleep by Offspring’s greatest hits, played at a house-shaking volume. In the morning there’s no need to eat anything because you’re so full from all the cookies from the previous night.

Follow this advice with caution – I did end up PRing, but I felt like shit the whole time. Sometimes when I’m running at a good speed I feel great, and the race seems really easy and I get a great time. Other times, like today, it feels like I’m barely jogging, and even that is a struggle. If you’re lucky it will at least turn out that really you felt so crappy because you were running at a faster-than-usual pace. I never run with a watch anymore, so I have no way of knowing my pace until the end. Today I was happily surprised when I came to the finish line and learned that I had run way faster than it had felt like.

My final time was 36:05, which is a 7:19 pace I think, and was good enough for a white 3rd place age division ribbon that I think is in a car somewhere so I can’t show it yet. Last year I won my age division with a time 2 minutes slower, and didn’t know there were ribbons to be had, so I have nothing to show for it.

After the race I came home and got ready for work and then a lymph node under my jaw grew into a giant bump and scared me. My mom/doctor says it has to do with the cold I’ve had, but it still feels troublesome. Hopefully it’s not a side effect of running. It probably isn’t.

PS. I saw only one running skirt today, which is a lot less than last year, and the race was much bigger. Prediction: running skirts were a short-lived trend.