I spent my 4th of July morning the same way I have for the last 3 years. It all started with the alarm going off at 4:45 AM. Yes, 4:45 AM on my day off…I am crazy. If you don’t know that by now then I must be leading you astray with my blogs. I will need to work on that…

Anyway! I had my customary peanut butter and banana bagel, smeared myself in cancer causing sunblock, slipped into my running skirt and then hopped in the car. Usually Dad drives me to all of my races, but I have driven myself to this one in the past. Since the race started at 7 AM I decided to let him off the hook for picking me up at 5:45 in the morning. My first stop was the gas station because I didn’t even have enough to get myself to the start line.

I arrived at the start line area shortly after 6 AM. I went in to hand in my registration form. I don’t register for this one ahead of time because you never know what the weather will be like. I have run it in the heat, humidity and rain before, so I am not sure what kind of weather would actually keep me away from the race. Snow maybe? In July?

I returned to my car to stash my race shirt and grab my waste pack. I looked through the contents of my wastepack and decided I didn’t really need to run with my license and my VISA so I stashed the pack back in my car and pulled out the two things I knew I would need – my key and my cell phone. Since this is a point-to-point and not an out-and-back I need to have the ability to call my father in case I get lost finding my way back to the car. The pocket in my running skirt is supposed to be cell phone friendly so I stuck my phone and key in it.

Time is pass quickly so I do a little stretching and go line up with the rest of the runners. The race is off and we start off running across the parking lot and then making a left to a downhill section of the race. We aren’t even half way down the hill when I feel like leg suddenly get lighter. I hear a crash and a bounce, bounce, bounce and someone yell “Cell Phone Down!” I turn off course and turn around to see my cell phone in the middle of the pack of people running down hill. I yell “Watch out, coming through” as I make my way out to retrieve my cell phone and hop off course again. Then I merge back into the race. My rythm is knocked off a little but it doesn’t take long to get it back.

I feel pretty good. Trying to run on the edge of my comfort zone. Before we hit the half mile point we pass the finish line, which I notice has been moved from previous years. We pass the 1 mile walker as the lead runners are coming in the other direction around mile 2. This is a very nostalgic section for me because this is where we pass my grandfather’s old house. We split off to complete a short loop to turn us around in the other direction. On this loop we pass over several cross streets on of them called “Dunran”. The humor of the moment was not lost on me. I am sure everyone thought I was off my rocker as I started laughing, but then again refer to paragraph 1.

The rest of the race was pretty uneventful. I cross the finish line, grab a bottle of water, and make my way to my car. I call Dad to let him know I crossed the finish line and was on my way home. I told him the clock appeared to be around 41 minutes when I crossed the line. Since this race has not timing chips our times are based solely on the gun time. I didn’t get a PR for this course or distance, but considering the cell phone mishap I am still very happy with my time.

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