Soooo funny story, I raced this morning. And if your response is What Mollie? I thought you were in the pool? I thought you were doing yoga? I thought you were taking some time off running??? Then you’re right. And brownie points to you for caring about my life. (Seriously, recently it's been a lot of eating, reading, and thinking about running on the Mollie-front.)
Or more likely, if your response is Ummmk? you should probably follow Eat Run Read more consistently. I’m just saying…
Anywhoozle, this morning was the ACLI Capital Challenge, a race that pits government, agency and media organizations against each other on Haynes Point. This year, there were 11 senators, 25 representatives, 6 judges, 25 electronic and 37 print media teams (see the entry list here). Also, get this, Bart Yasso was there! That's THE Bart Yasso, of the Yasso 800s! aka my favorite workout ever (who's a running nerd? Me! Me!).
When I first heard about this race back in the fall, I was like Yes! This is going to be awesome! People at work are going to think I’m so cool for being a fast runner! (I do realize that most people do not judge coolness by running ability…but work with me here people, a girl can dream…)
But as the race-date approached and my issues did not get better, my excited-ness switched to dread. I mean, not that it’s a super-serious race, but still! I like to run well, and I like to race when I’m prepared. Racing unprepared is just setting yourself up for misery and failure (do as I say, not as I do kids).
BUT I had entered, and without me our team would have to cancel, so there I was, lacing up my flats on a windy DC morning, mentally preparing for the worst.
We lined up at the start, a mix of Congressmen and judges, TV news and print journalists, Army uniforms and Agency representatives, all ready to run the 3-mile out-and-back before the work day began.
And it wasn’t that bad. I mean, I’m the most out of shape I’ve been since high school, so there’s that. But a nice tail-wind blessed us through the first mile (only to curse us on the way back), and there were enough people in the race (about 700) to keep the motivation high.
So overall not a bad morning. I am currently sitting on an ice pack and enjoying my spoils (i.e. free post-race apples, grapes, and croissants). I ran 19:16, was the 3rd place woman, and 49th overall.
Ah running…how I missed thee!
