Last Saturday I woke up early and went through all my pre-race rituals: ate oatmeal with a banana, drank some water, quadruple knotted my running shoes. I was ready and feeling good!
YC and I had planned to carpool to the Red Top Rumble trail run in Cartersville, Georgia. When I pulled up to his house at 7 o’clock Saturday morning, not a single light was on. I immediately knew something was wrong. YC is NEVER late. So I called him:
YC: (sounding sleepy) Frosh.
ME: Is it ok if I park the Corolla on your grass?
YC: What?
ME: ON YOUR GRASS. MY CAR. WAKE UP YOU LAZY…
YC: It’s tomorrow.
ME: What?!
YC: The race. It’s tomorrow.
ME: &#%$! Sorry!
Click. Screech.
Slightly embarassed and very amused, I headed home. I’ve lost enough bets to YC to know he was right and I was wrong. Thank goodness for carpools or I would’ve made it all the way to the race site 24 hours early!
Fast forward to Sunday and I was actually on the starting line with YC, our fellow Dynamfia member, DJ Kidd, and the 300 other runners who managed to figure out which day was race day.
Red Top Rumble is a ridiculously popular 11.5 mile trail run. The race sells out every year. Nabbing a bib number for the 2011 edition had involved sitting poised and focused at my computer, credit card in hand, holding my breath and waiting for online registration to open. Seriously, you’d have thought I was trying to buy Justin Bieber tickets.
But my efforts were worth it and when the gun when off, I was running! The first four miles of the race were on wide, fairly flat, dirt paths that probably more closely resembled roads than true trails. I LOVED that part! I was keeping up with YC and it was awesome! Unfortunately, someone decided a trail run should involve “real trails” and I suddenly found myself struggling up and down what felt like a never ending series of mountains. I admit, I enjoyed the adventure and the scenery, but OMG it HURT!
When I finally crossed the finish line I could not figure out how such a tough race could attract such a popular following. The trails were nice, but not sell-out in hours nice. There’s no Peachtree-esq holiday tradition, no Hogpen-like mountain top finish, the weather wasn’t even that great. But then I found out what happens after the race…
First, right when I crossed the finish line I got a pair of gloves:
Oversized running gloves are one of my favorite things in the whole world. I own several pairs and I love them all.
Then, there’s a delicious breakfast with egg cassarole, bacon, coffee, and a raffle! I didn’t win anything, but DJ Kidd scored a $50 gift card. That’s a reason to smile!
Yay! I'm $50 richer!
And finally, there were the awards! YC’s podium finish earned him a $30 gift card, and even I got a $25 gift card for placing 5th female! And the top TEN men and women got folding chairs!
Well, there’s some debate over it being a chair or table (or maybe an outdoorsy ottoman?) but I just composed this entire blog while seated in it, so I say CHAIR! And I LOVE it! A few more years of solid performances at the Red Top Rumble and guests will actually have somewhere to sit in my apartment! I will definitely be signing up for this race again next year!
