Went and got lunch today and came home and crashed out hard - totally snoozed through the afternoon ride I had planned and when I got up, the storms were heading through. At first, I just figured the run & heat had taken a decent chunk out of me, but then I realized the problem. The problem is - I am a dumbass. I took sunscreen with me today, and neglected to actually put any of it on and hence, got a bit of a sunburn. Not lobster red by any means, and no pain, but I can tell it’s there - and that is what makes me sleep like a complete rock within an hour or so of getting in the house.
Assuming I don’t fall asleep on the couch again, I’ll spend the evening reassuring the dog that I will NOT let the fireworks outside get him. I wish he wasn’t afraid of the noises, cause I do miss being able to set fireworks off in the backyard.
The run today was fun, if warm - 77 degrees at the start with 63% humidity. Which you just don’t think of as being hot, until you’re moving in it. Then it’s freaking hot. But there were lots of little kids running and they were so fun to cheer on at the end - they have that great “I’m being chased by a monster” form that is just so adorable. The last of the race was a downhill, and it was so cute to watch their eyes light up when I would tell them “It’s really downhill!! I just did it!” (Amazing how quickly they learned that the volunteers will tell them anything to keep them going, but a lady with a race number is going to tell them what’s really up ahead.) One thing that just bugged the crap out of me was passing a father & son where the father was giving the kid a ton of crap about his form. Not, “Hey, bud, if you keep doing that, you’ll get shin splits, so try this” but more of the “You’re going to be the cross country star I never was” attitude. And the advice he was giving was bad. While I did resist the urge to give the guy a flying tackle as I went by, I might have muttered something about his information being incorrect as I passed.
It did bring something that I’ve always known in the back of my head into sharp focus, though. 21 years ago I did my first 5K, and managed to swing age group hardware to boot. My folks were both there for the race, my Dad riding his bike on the side streets of the course and tossing me wet towels (it was hotter than hell) and my Mom at the finish with big thermos of lemon honey tea. (The fine art of jockstrapping goes back many years.) I knew so many parents whose reaction to the race would have been, “Well, we’re signing you up for track/cross country now!” since the results were fairly good. Fortunately, mine knew that I wanted to do this for fun, to see if I could do it, and I did and had a good time and that was that. They were always so good about letting me do my own thing when it came to sports and such. Pretty much the only thing was if I started a season, I needed to at least stick it out. If at the end of the season I didn’t want to do whatever it was anymore, no problem.
I sure hope if I ever have kids I always remember that.
