the way it works out sometimes

the iphone made that funny buzzing noise it makes when you've got it on silent+buzz and you get an email or something, so i looked at my watch and it was 5:37. i had set the alarm for 5, so this was not a good start. i went to look at the iphone to see what notification caused it to buzz, and it said it was my turn in "words with mini-me" but mini-me last played a turn 7 hours ago, so why did it buzz? and why did that buzzing wake me up? don't look a gift notification in the buzz, i guess.

so i got up and turned on the coffee and drank a little water and had a little coffee and a banana, took a shower, put on tights and two shirts and of course shorts over the tights because i am a loser, and put my heel lift into my running shoes and strapped them on over the nearly-brand-new thorlos that didn't know they were going home with a non-runner or they'd never have jumped into my hands that day at academy sports.

gathered my stuff and headed to the car, back upstairs for towels in case of rain, and goodbye to my old man who was getting out of bed to go golfing, good luck with your running, good luck with your golf. into the car to drive an hour to go running, and i don't know whether it's the running itself makes me miss speedy so much as the driving. she & i, like fugitives we'd head out of town in the dark to get somewhere and get in a few miles before the day was shot, amos lee or the killers in the player but turned down because who can talk with the music on?

i headed out of town by myself, heading west into the darkness that clung to the horizon not done being night, not ready to give way to the day. and i turned on the radio and searched for music, and there wasn't much, but i needed those djs and those commercials and those voices. i couldn't put in a cd and be alone. west i went for an hour and still reached the meeting spot before they did, so i used the time wisely for a pit stop at the bp.

we all piled into her van and headed over to the church parking lot. we debated whether it would rain, we questioned our wardrobe choices, we accepted or declined a bottled water, searched for lip balm, adjusted our socks. we piled out again at the church, registered the little linebacker, who'd only just decided to join us, and all pinned on our bibs before taking a warm up lap around the block. we got back in time to stretch just a bit, then they lined us up and said "go".

i had told baby einstein this was his race. i picked out three likely candidates before we lined up and pointed them out to him. "you stay with them," i told him, deeply sorry i could not pace him myself. "you stay with them and when you feel a little tired, you try harder, or you feel like letting them go, just don't. you stay with them and i want you puking when we're done." he laughed.

so we lined up and started, and baby einstein took off. i yelled at him to GO! as he disappeared around a corner, and the little linebacker said to stop embarrassing him and by him he meant him, the little linebacker, not baby einstein. the LL tends a bit towards self-centeredness. it took us about half a block to sort out that mama goose was going to take off and run her race and that i would be babysitting the LL. fine, whatever, i've been injured so it's not like i can really run.

the thing about the LL is that he doesn't like running. i have absolutely not a single inkling of a clue of an idea why he was out there and i am also not quite clear why i got the job of keeping track of him, but they didn't stop traffic for this tiny 5k, so no... i wasn't going to just leave him.

i encouraged him and berated him. i told him he could do this! i called him lazy. i told him i'd run off and leave him, and i told him we could walk a bit. i gave him goals - that arrow in the road, that lightpost, that next driveway, just make it that far and we'll see how you feel. [mini-me probably still has nightmares about that technique.] he said his legs hurt and his side hurt and his lungs hurt and i am convinced he wasn't thirsty when he stopped for water. he just wanted to walk. but damned if i was going to spend more than 45 minutes on this project, so i kept at it.

i held his hand and pulled him up the final hill and when we could see the finish, i just kept telling him to run faster! run faster! don't stop now! run! run! and then we were done and i hugged him and said i was so proud of him, and he said "for what? i could have done better." and i thought like hell you could, buddy.

baby einstein came in 3rd, right behind arm-warmer guy and old guy, ahead of hat man and the girls from the high school. mama goose said, "he doesn't feel well." which was a bit of an understatment since he was clearly barely holding his own against his rising bile. i told him i was proud of him, that there is no way he could question whether he put his all into this race. he smiled, and laid down there in the grass, and went to sleep.

in about 10 minutes he was recovered a bit and collected his age group award. no mention that he was 3rd overall. mama goose won her [our!] age group, and the little linebacker got an award for being under 12 years old and finishing. yeah, he's under 12. was i too hard on him? do i care? i didn't get any awards but later at cracker barrel, mama goose paid for my multi-grain granola pancakes. those were fun companions on the long drive home, let me tell you.