So I awoke this morning at 6:15 with a feeling of excitement, and an upset stomach. (It’s highly possible that I ate way too much for dinner last night.) I was out the door at 7 and on my way to Spencer, Indiana to run in the Owens County YMCA 5k. I threw my bag and directions into the car and was on my way. Spencer is a small town about half an hour north-west of Bloomington.

I pulled in to the YMCA parking lot right in time to get warmed up, but there was only one problem. No one was there! Well, ok, one woman was sitting in her car, but (pardon me for judging) she didn’t look like much of a runner. I drove around a little bit to see if the run was perhaps somewhere else in the surrounding area, but to no avail. So I sat in the YMCA parking lot to see if people would show up. As a matter of fact, people did start to show up. Not just any people…lots of young people started to drive up, mostly girls. All were in jeans or other non-running clothing…so I knew they weren’t there for the 5k. Damn!

At 8:05 I drove off, telling myself I’d find a high school track on the way home and do my run there (I am obsessed with accurately tracking my mileage). I found a high school nearby, but the band was practicing on the track. Foiled again!

At this point I was feeling a little down, and told myself just to go home for the run. But then not two minutes later, to add insult to injury, I drove by a sign that said, “YMCA 5k go right.” I turned right, and half a block later there’s the start/finish line. I contemplated starting the run late, but it was already 8:20 (the run started at 8) and this is the sort of race where even the slowest of the slow probably finish in 40 minutes or so. Had it been a longer race I would have jumped in, but at that point it just wasn’t worth it.

Sad story, I know. It has a somewhat happy ending, though. In the end I decided to come home and do a mini-biathlon. I started with a brisk 2 mile run, then grabbed my bike and did an additional 15 miles. It felt pretty good, and perhaps I’ll be able to work my way up to adding another run at the end…that’s how actual biathlons work.

Moral of the story? Well, no moral really…just get out there and exercise, I promise you’ll be addicted too.