Through a comedy of (my) errors, I missed out on this morning's "Run Your Buns Off" half-marathon race, held on the (awesome) Hawthorne Trail starting and ending at the little town of Hawthorne a few miles southeast of Gainesville. In retrospect...and I don't think it's just sour grapes...the fact that I drove all the way out there forgetting to take along my bib with the embedded timing chip was probably for the better. I had squeezed out a small parking spot near the starting line and got out to pay a quick pre-race visit to the porta-potty when I noticed what seemed to be an endless line in front of the (only) two provided...this all happening only 15 minutes before race time. But it was then that I noticed the bibs on the runners mulling around and realized that it was "game over" since my own was lying on my desk some 15 miles away. I walked directly back to my car, scooted out of there and, a few minutes later, did my own mulling over coffee at a Gainesville Dunkin' Donuts. The race's starting temperature was around 70 degrees with a horrible humidity exceeding 90%...I experienced something similar last October in another half-marathon that was thoroughly miserable. I also felt sleepy this morning...if I want to participate in these races, I need to get into the habit of sleeping earlier and waking up earlier. As it was, I went home after Dunkin' and slept for a couple more hours. I should have known up front that this race wasn't going to turn out as planned...although I had set my alarm for 5:30 to give me plenty of time to get ready, somewhere along the line...in my sleep, apparently...I had turned it off and only woke up, thanks to Melissa, at 6. So, what did I learn? One, shift my waking and sleeping times to accommodate activities earlier in the morning. Two, be more selective with these races and who conducts them. And three: oh hell, I think two lessons are enough...
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