I don't know how on earth this happened, but I let my wife the marathoner talk me into signing up for a 5K run on Thanksgiving morning, the 7th annual Trot for Hunger, to benefit SOME. It starts at 8:30 AM, in an inconvenient location a mile away from the nearest Metro Station, so I don't know what in blazes the organizers were thinking, but I'll give it a shot. Since starting my diet and exercise program on June 1, I've gotten into pretty good shape, but I'm still concerned about hurting (1) my back and/or (2) my feet. You may recall I broke my right foot a couple of years ago while running, so I don't want to do that again. New running shoes are definitely needed; attention Fleet Feet, I'll be stopping by soon and handing over my credit card.

Unfortunately, I can't bring my good camera, which is too large/heavy/delicate, but I'll try to bring my Canon Powershot or a disposable film camera to get some interesting shots while running (or limping, as the case may be). I always find the atmosphere at these organized runs to be amusing from the spectator's perspective, the  cliched music selections, overly-perky announcers (you're all "heroes"! we can defeat [disease name] right now!), and the disorganization and confusion that typically occurs no matter how well-planned it is. There will undoubtedly be someone in the race dressed as a turkey, or in a Santa suit, and at the start/finish line there will be free samples of power bars and energy drinks. Mayor Fenty will finish the 5K in 15 minutes without breaking a sweat.

However, if it's raining that morning, I already told my wife I'd bail, as I can think of nothing less pleasant than running in a cold November rain when I'd rather stay in bed. I'm a weenie when it comes to rain, I don't like getting wet and I don't like my clothes and shoes to get wet. The good thing about doing a 5k run Thanksgiving morning is starting the day out with a calorie deficit, so as to facilitate gorging on food later in the day. Cynical comments of mine aside, it's for a good cause, too!

 My wife's birthday was Sunday, and to celebrate it, she ran in the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler. She felt pretty good afterwards, and she was on par with her usual 10 mile time, so she was pretty happy. I went down with a friend and met up with her at the finish line, and brought her a towel and umbrella, because it was raining and cold.

I just don't understand the appeal of these runs. Distance running must release vast quantities of endorphins into the brain, providing an amazing natural high, otherwise why bother with it? It seems there's bad weather for this particular race every year. One year there were high winds and snow, and I was shivering as a spectator, and can hardly imagine how the runners must have suffered. It requires giving up one day of weekend sleeping in, which I find crucial to making up for the deficit of the work week. The logistics are never very good, as you have 20,000 people and their friends and family all trying to crowd into the same area, frequently a muddy field (see weather above) and find each other. I was lucky to spot J, but then lost her again. Two other runners, complete strangers, asked to borrow my cellphone and the conversations went like this (while dialing) "I'm gonna kill him" and then angrily "where are you!?" The poor women were drenched and shivering, and I hope eventually met up with their friends. All the while at the finish line they're playing a loop of loud running-related songs, like "Running on Empty" and "Running with the Night", which adds to the general discomfort. If I were a runner, I'd never sign up for these organized runs. Well, maybe if they rescheduled in event of rain, and started later in the day.

My wife loves these running events, and has completed several long runs in recent years, a marathon, half-marathon, a few ten milers, etc. She explains the appeal of the organized distance run in her own words here, but I'm still not convinced. Perhaps I'm just too curmudgeonly, or just a big weenie. I still think some sort of chemical release takes place that causes a general euphoria, like when the body sense it's near death, and you start to hallucinate and no longer feel the pain.

After the big race, we stopped in to my office so J could get cleaned up and changed before going to brunch at Teaism. It was more crowded there than I've ever seen it, so many of the other runners and spectators must have had the same idea. But it was good, really good, to be indoors having a delicious brunch.

Tonight we're going to a birthday party for G at Lauriol Plaza. It doesn't look like very good roof deck weather, but they have an awning fortunately. Last year it was stormy, too, I recall running for the 16th Street bus afterwards in a downpour. Oh well, it will be good to see "Miss G", as M-kitty likes to call her, and we have a little present to drop off. I'm looking forward to drinks and Mexican food, and have been craving guacamole recently. J and I might try to make homemade guacamole this weekend, though.

The weekend weather is supposed to be sunny again, so I'll either go for a bike ride or a long walk, with camera in hand, and see what I come across. J has a skating lesson Saturday at the new ice rink in Ballston, the Kettler Capitals Iceplex. Then on Sunday she's getting up at an insanely early hour (by my weekend standards) to run in the Pike's Peek 10k race in Rockville, MD. She said she's interested in the sheer novelty of running on Rockville Pike with all traffic blocked. How will all those SUVs and minivans get to all the big-box stores?!? They'll just have to wait until the race is over.

By the time I made it to the E. Falls Church Metro station, via the Green and Orange lines, I had a partially full bladder. The area in the immediate vicinity of the station appeared to be a quiet residential area. There were no stores or restaurants that might have a restroom, so I didn't want to take any chances, and decided to do something I haven't done in the 14 years I've lived here. I walked up to the station manager, announced a bathroom emergency, and requested to use the facilities per WMATA's policy. She said yes! The bathroom was clean, and I left feeling refreshed and privileged to have been granted access. Woohoo!

Next, I had to locate the start/finish line for the AIDS Marathon runners, in unfamiliar terrain. The directions I was given said something about crossing a major road, and walking down a "path into the woods." Well, I found a path fitting that description, but little did I know the correct path was on the other side of that road. The path I took was an unpaved, narrow track that immediately entered a thickly wooded area. Nobody else was around, and a dead mouse on the trail seemed a bad omen (killed by the Chupacabra?). It intersected a paved trail, which led to the W&OD Trail proper, so I headed down that. After about 1/2 mile, I gave up and turned around. I heard some cheering in the distance, and took a beeline in that direction though some brush, but it turned out to be a youth soccer game. Tired of wandering in the woods, I started asking runners going by on the trail. One guy said he thought it was 1/2 mile in the direction he was going, so I followed him and eventually found the AIDS Marathon base camp.

The crew had set up cones funneling the runners through an arch made of balloons, and there was a tent with food, water, gatorade, towels and presumably medical supplies. As the runners came through the arch, they were given medals indicating they had finished the training program. It wasn't technically a full marathon of 26.2 miles, they "just" ran 26 miles. However, J's group ran a little further, so they did the real deal. Can you imagine running for 6 hours? I met J. at the finish line, and she was in pretty good shape, considering. About 20-30 minutes later, S's group finished, and she was in pretty good shape too. I think the pasta dinner last night helped! After a snack and some stretching, we headed back to the car down the correct path. I was amazed at how close it was to the Metro, compared to my earlier wanderings.

We drove home, dropping off S. in Petworth, and J. took a long shower and commenced icing her feet and knees, which hurt. She then took a couch nap, while I went out and did some sweeping and cleaning in front of our building. For dinner, we ordered a pizza with calamari and watched a DVD. Good job, J., I'm very proud of you!

The conversation was good, and we probably would have chatted late into the night, except for the fact that they're supposed to be in Falls Church by 6:30AM, and need a good night's sleep. S. is outgoing, smart, well-traveled, and a fellow NPR listener, so makes for a good dinner guest. Interestingly, both J. and S. are ophidiophobic, and really really really dislike and fear snakes. If a snake should appear on television, J. changes the channel. Fortunately, we have M-kitty to protect us from rogue serpents.

The cat was relatively well-behaved, only taking one or two swipes at our guest, about par for the course. She joined us at the dinner table, sitting on the one unoccupied chair and staring into space for awhile. She never jumps on the table itself, but loves to sit up at our level on the chairs. It's amusing, we really should take a picture. The meal was vegetarian, so no meat scraps for the little carnivore. Later, I gave her some extra Fancy Feast as a reward. Mmmm... mystery meat, in "gravy."

I'll report on how the runners did tomorrow. I hope they manage to avoid any injury or pain. It's a little scary to think about, but I know they can do it!