Nine times.
That’s how many times I had near misses on my drive back from Ocala today.
Nine times.
From cars running red lights, to not using turn signals to shift lanes or make turns, to merging with impunity and disregard for lanes or cars, to zipping in and out of lanes within inches of my rear bumper at speeds FAR in excess of 75+ MPH (as I was doing 75 in a 70 IN THE SLOW LANE), I find I’ve lost all hope for humanity. I’m angry and frustrated that I have to essentially accommodate the crazed self-important idiocy of others that place their worth and needs and desires ahead of all others. I’m in a really bad mental place and am cursing up a storm – I was literally quaking with outrage as the near misses piled up. It was only through exceedingly good luck (?) and marginal skills on my part at defensive driving AT ALL TIMES that I skated by with only emotional damage. But I really am in no mood for anyone or anything at this stage.
Which is rather unfortunate as I put up a pretty good time on this third day of the Savage Seven. I felt like I was slower than usual, and there were a few newbies with fresh legs and attitude that I felt were nipping at my heels in the opening miles. But as I completed the first loop, I had apparently pulled away from the pack and found myself averaging a 7:11 minute mile. That’s crazy fast for me… but then I thought I might as well give it a go and try and beat my time from Monday.
There aren’t a lot of photos today — partly because let’s be honest it’s the same loop over and over and over again (today involved cumulative loops 11 – 15). And partly because although the mist seemed to be less than it had been in the wee early hours of the 6 AM start time, as the sun started to rise it actually got MORE foggy and misty for a bit and photos became blurry messes.
I also put my proverbial shoulder to the wheel and tried to just grind out the miles. I had brought along my recently ebay purchased iPod to listen to some music to help with the monotony of the course. But I found myself bargaining in my head, promising the tunes as a reward for just getting one more loop done. And then one more… and then I thought it would be harder to unwind the headphones then to just leave it in my pocket. That’s also when my shoe wallet containing my car keys broke apart, my car’s keyless remote skittering across the paved road. It seemed more important to get that back into a safe place rather than to deal with the iPod. I think I made the right decision.
When all was said and done, I clocked in at 3:16:45… a few seconds faster than the supposedly shorter course on Monday. So that’s a win.
I did not get a mug today. Maybe that was a one-off thing… but it seems to me I was mugged of my mug! Not to be “that guy” but I won the day with a faster time than before and I think that’s mug worthy. I mean, what’s a guy got to do to get a mug around here?
Gack. This all makes me sound like I’m holding sour grapes and commenting on them ad nauseum. I blame the NINE near misses on the way home… a number that actually SWELLED as I ran errands this afternoon to include at least 3 more near misses.
I don’t know if it’s sour grapes or just a general malaise of self pitying put-upon-ness. But I most assuredly am in a foul mood. Maybe I should go for another run?
Today’s ribbon: as predicted — it’s the Yellow “Y” in the ROY G BIV color scheme!
Fifteen loops down… 20 (sigh) loops to go.
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POST BLOG NOTE: I know I grumble and grouse but I do want to say thank you to my fellow runners and the volunteer support team out at the Savage Seven. I may be a curmudgeon-y misanthrope, but I appreciate the kind words of encouragement (as well as the water!) as we all go round and round. Thanks for being out there.