The coin and the bathroom scale said go. I’ve been eating way too much, feeling slug-like. And it was heads.
All this to say that once again I found myself at 5 AM at the the Long Beach Marina, running with Charlie Alewine Racing.
It was the same course as I’ve done before in this area, the same one they always use for Long Beach Marina Vista Park.
Past the Lifeguard Museum. Over and back again on the bridge, then around the lake. Do that six times.
I could have just gotten out of bed and run 13.1 miles from the door, turned around and come back. It would’ve saved me the 2.5 hour roundtrip car ride, the $44 entry fee, the groggy foggy start.
But I also would’ve delayed, and delayed, and delayed going for the run. I may not even have gone were I to have stayed at home As it was, despite the 3 hours cumulative “sleep” I was able to cobble together last night, I HAD to get out of bed to go do this. The coin told me to. The bathroom scale groaned its assent, the needle careening round and round the digits.
I didn’t take many photos — I’ve been here too often and even running this marathon course ONCE means I’d have had 6 changes to photograph things as they happened. Sure, sure. The lighting and day itself can inform the photographs but today was an overcast, hazy morning… and I was kinda just there to get out of the house and try and force the miles.
That might have been a big mistake, but then I seem to make a lot of mistakes lately.
There was a section by the lake that was undergoing some serious roadworks.
Despite the “Road Closed” signage and construction paraphernalia, Charlie had assured us to follow the hundreds of arrows on the course that would direct us around, through, over, and amongst the rubble. It was somewhere in here that I suspect I rolled my ankle. If not there, at some stage I must have done so as my right foot had this crazy creeping pain as I pivoted up and down on it in my stride.
In the end, as each loop brought slower and slower mile lap “dings” on my Garmin GPS watch, I struggled over the finish line. It was Charlie’s birthday and there was cake… but my stomach couldn’t handle the sugary sweetness.
Happy birthday, Charlie. Thanks for putting on these low key events. It gets me out of the house.
There’s another race tomorrow at the Long Beach boardwalk. But I think my body and soul can’t handle another set of loops just yet. No matter what the coin says.