What makes a run fun?
Running for the experience vs running for the prize
I woke up at 3 am.
It wasn’t time to wake up yet, but it was close. I felt the familiar tingle of nerves and excitement.
Race day. The day I’ve been looking forward to for months.
I turned over and got a few more minutes of sleep until my alarm went off for real at 3:30.
I stepped out of bed quietly not to wake up my wife and two kids sleeping soundly in our hotel room. My shirt, shoes, socks, and bib were laid out. I was already wearing my shorts and sweatpant warm-ups.
Grabbing hotel room coffee, I loaded up on the bus with the only people up at this hour — other runners and the bus driver. The bus driver cracked the joke all runners have heard: You’re actually paying to do this to yourself?? In fact, this is almost double what I’ve paid for any race entry.
A few hours later I’d be back in bed and so weak and in pain I could barely move, even though I needed to get up every 10 minutes to race to the bathroom.
I was warned about this.
Was this fun?
“Screw your time, stop and take pix. This race is way too expensive to not stop to appreciate the course. Go PR a cheap race.”
