Miles today: 3.1 + 2.97 = 6.1Miles this week: 23.6
Miles this year: !)(@$*)!
Three years ago on the first Saturday in December, Gregg picked me up for our first date. He and I had finally crossed paths enough for him to ask me to go on a date and earlier that week we had talked on the phone. He asked if I was running the Bedford Christmas Classic, which I was, and then offered to pick me up the morning of the race. So that Saturday, promptly at 6:45am, Gregg showed up at my apartment in his silver BMW Z4 with a Starbucks vanilla latte in hand. I was pumped to be getting a ride in his fancy car, but felt bad telling him that I didn't drink coffee and didn't like lattes. So, I tried to drink some of the latte on our drive to Bedford. For some reason, we had really connected over running (being that we did meet on the 10 Miler course and all) and going to this race together was kind of special. Gregg was running on a team with some pals from Brook Food Group, Jesse Pratt and a few others, so we met in a parking lot to get everyone together. Then we all went to the middle school and picked up our packets.
When the race was over, Gregg and I waited in the gym for the results, but funny thing--the results were messed up because the race director had accidentally used duplicate numbers. So it took what seemed like hours and hours for results to be processed. I wanted to wait because Gregg had won 4th place overall and I really wanted to know if I placed in my age group. While we waited, Gregg and I talked and talked while sitting on the floor of the Bedford Middle School gymnasium. We had so much to talk about that I think we both knew something was happening between us. When the results were finally finished, Gregg won 4th place and my name was never posted. To this day, my name still isn't in those results. Gregg sent me a picture the following week:
We still laugh about those darn results. I'm pretty sure my time in that race was somewhere around 26:30.
Three years later, Gregg and I have tied the knot and are still running the Christmas Classic every year. I kind of wanted to tell the race director my story and have him design the race t-shirt in honor of our 2010 marriage, but I was a wuss about it and thought it might be conceited to think that anyone would want us on their t-shirt.
In 2008, I ran 26:35 and last year my time was 26:06. My goal this year was to beat last year's time. I ran 24:40 at the race today! I was pretty psyched to have knocked almost 1:30 off my best time on that course. Gregg was pumped for me too. We had a team lined up this year for the race. Riverside Runners was made up of me, Gregg, Ricky Flynn, Darrell Wargo, and Jordan Whitlock. Unfortunately for us, our 1st, 2nd, 11th, and 20th places weren't enough for the win (my 98th place brought our team score down), but everyone on the team placed except for me. Ricky was 1st overall, breaking the course record, winning the "top of the hill" prize, and a turkey (he won $110!), Jordan was 2nd overall, winning some prize money as well. Gregg was first in his age group and Darrell was 2nd in his age group. Here are the guys with all their winnings:
And here's Ricky's turkey:
I was proud of everyone's efforts.
After the race, Gregg and I ran the course in reverse to get in a few extra miles. It felt good to go down the Bedford Hospital hill rather than up it.
To top it all off, Lynchburg's first snow of the winter came today as well. I was pretty psyched when I got home to see snow on the mailbox. I guess that means winter is officially here.
After the race, Gregg and I ran the course in reverse to get in a few extra miles. It felt good to go down the Bedford Hospital hill rather than up it.
To top it all off, Lynchburg's first snow of the winter came today as well. I was pretty psyched when I got home to see snow on the mailbox. I guess that means winter is officially here.
