And then I woke

Solstice slumber satified and belly burbling with a bag of oats, I rolled down the edge of Edge Hill to the race site, a little late to help with the speedy set up, but I was quickly put to use relieving Liam from pointing cars to parking, liberating those talents to peform more pertinent tasks. Alright, I'll adjourn from alliteration! Maybe.

With over a month away from running, I've also been away from most of the friends I've met running. I've missed them, and despite still considering myself foremost as the-guy-on-the-bike, as with helping at the Seven Sisters race in early May, I was treated to recognition of how much I've become a member of this community of special people. Yup, there were a lot of feel good moments.

There were also three specific moments of a quiet pang of biting emotion when Amy, in her pre race instructions, warned the runners to use extra caution on the road sections, because in a battle with a car, they would lose. Yes, three days after my three year anniversary of being hit, I felt a wave of sadness, but then also great joy, at being still here to hear that. Yup, I'll be wearing that one a long time.

Go! The 50k runners were the first to start, and Amy being the savy, experienced race promoter, had spaced the starts super well, not only giving us in the field periodic breaks from parking duties to attend to porta potty duties (please appreciate that one, as it will be hard for me to top, or maybe bottom, if you don't prefer. Ok, ok, I'm done!), butt (maybe not completely done) also having the winners of the 10k, 30k, and 50k races all finishing at similar times.

That meant after watching my friend Jake lead the top 15 10k runners through the final section of new, bench-cut singletrack, my two minute walk down the hill had me almost to the finish when my friend Matt ran past on his way to winning the 50k. Just a few minutes later, Bonnie crossed the line, winning the 30k. Whoot, go (fast) friends!

And with all races finishing together, there was a wonderful party atmosphere under the tent, allowing reconnection with many friends and recounting how my fake engineering skill had helped me (I'm farely confident) diagnose the root cause of my leg pain and convince PT to attend to my ankle sprain from last August to relieve the pain in my hip. Bodies are complex machines. Who designed these things?!? Oh, right. I, for one, don't call that intelligent.

With clearance from Amy that they had the minimal tear down in hand, I excused myself for an early ride home with the option of some meandering which I put to use here and there. Ahh, a good day with good weather and wonderful people, if that wasn't enough, I'd earlier run the last 200 yards of woods from my spectating spot, eavesdropping on two racers as they discussed the health care system. Those were my first steps at a trot in over a month, and it didn't feel at all bad. I suspect there are more to come soon, this summer!