This weekend was a lesson in flexibility. And anyone who knows me knows that I am not in the least bit flexible. Not only can I not stretch well, but when I make plans, I hate having to change them at the last minute.
I did the race with my friend Luke, which wasn't the original plan. Fortunately, he was able to keep me from doing it by myself.
If I'd had my way, I would have left to pick him up in Pasadena by 11:30 at the latest. Instead, I found myself waiting for a friend to get his mail, and I didn't leave until after 3. This meant we hit major commute traffic.
Luke was interested in buying a dirt motorcycle that was along the way. This certainly didn't make the drive any less. Saturday, after the race, we spent some time trying to get that figured out before giving up.
We were going to spend the night with his girlfriend, but decided to stay closer to the race itself.
Even with all those changes of plan, the race was great.
I was actually happy with how the race felt. When I saw the sign for the 3 mile mark, I was very surprised. I didn't feel like I was half way done. Unfortunately, my time wasn't much better than last year, mainly because we got caught in crowds a couple of times and we wound up having to walk some when my hip started to bother me. That part really frustrated me, but I took it a little easier after that, especially after I almost fell down one hill area.
There were a few changes to the course here and there. I missed the Marines shooting us with water in Combat Town. But the biggest change was the resivoir. Instead of being the normal 4.5 feet deep, it was over 6 feet deep. Trying to swim that was a challenge since it was hard to really swim without kicking your neighbors. But it was a fun challenge.
Despite all the uncertainty and stress of this week, I really enjoyed the race itself. It was a lot of fun. And on the way home, I got to visit with my friend Brian for an hour or two as well.
Naturally, it left me with way too much I wanted to do Sunday and not nearly enough time to do it all, but it was a great weekend. Now, to rest up.
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