Biggest ever, as I would want done for me, partied hard, reinforcements, smoked out

It is currently 3:20AM.

Friday I left work a little early to head over to the early packet pick up Ali was running for her race.  She had given me reports during the day about how busy it was which is a good problem to have. We want as many as people as possible to pick up their race packet early to lessen lines on race day.  That being said it isn’t fun to deal with a non-stop line of humanity for 6 or more hours straight which is basically what Ali did.

She had a number of people sign up in person which was complemented by a ton of online sign ups as well, many of whom signed up online on Friday and marched right over to pick up their packet the same day.  These individuals create a challenge for me that I have not yet figured out a good way to address.  What winds up happening is I have to go back that evening and manually change the bib number for each person that falls into this category.  On Friday that list was several dozen people.

While I was there I helped the Humane Society staff get their van loaded up with tables, coolers, tents and other supplies they would be using on race day.  By the time I was done the van was pretty jam packed.  I grabbed everything I needed from Ali and headed out.  Before getting home to get to work I needed to also stop and pick up groceries.

By the time Randall showed up it was somewhere around 8 o’clock.  We had already eaten dinner and I was in the middle of race prep, leaving me only brief amounts of time to welcome Randall, I let Cindy pick up the slack as I continued to hammer away at my mental to do list.  Before going to bed all three of us loaded up the party van as it was the only vehicle suitable to carry all of the gear and the three of us as well.

The forecast for Saturday morning seemed decent with lows in the high 50’s, much warmer than many Paws races before which had temps as low as the 30’s on race day.  I thought I would be fine wearing shorts, a t-shirt, and one of my not so thick hoodies.  Well once we got on site I realized I made a poor choice.  The steady wind that we emerged into made me feel much, much colder.  I spent pretty much the first two hours feeling chilled to the bone.

The pre-race scene got congested pretty quickly as there were the most participants ever for the race.  Despite the large amounts of pre-registered runners  we had a huge day of race walk up crowd as well of 90 runners.  Thankfully I had Chris and Sean doing the data entry for me which allowed me to run around and attend to the various other tasks I had at hand.

So shortly before 7:45 Ali and I had to get down to the start line, over a half mile away.  This was the first race we had use of the club’s new electric golf cart.  We utilized it get to the start line in half the time it would have taken on foot which was nice.  What wasn’t so nice was the few minutes before the start of the race.

The race had paid for four police officers to close off traffic to the race course during the start of the event.  We were a couple minutes before the official start time of 8AM and we still had vehicles on the road.  Evidently whatever officer that was stationed at the far end of the course did not understand that closing the road to traffic actually meant closing the road to traffic.  In addition Ali discovered that the volunteer course marshals for some reason were not out on the course as they were supposed to be.  She was more or less freaking out as she yelled at me almost like I was the one responsible for these unfortunate problems.  I told her it would be ok, we waited for the vehicles to clear and started the race a little over 4 minutes late.  It wasn’t the end of the world.

After the last straggler came over the starting mats, and there were a LOT of stragglers, we again hopped in the cart for a high speed return to the finish line area.  I had done as much ahead of time at the finish as possible to save time since I knew we had such distance to and from the start line.

I was a bit nervous about the event timing to be honest.  Despite timing over 100 races the incident at the half marathon had shaken my confidence.  I set up a secondary timing box at the finish as a safety net, something I never had done for this race before.  I was relieved when results started flowing in as I am accustomed to seeing.  Overall the event timing went very well outside of two timing bibs that were dead as a doornail when they hit the finish line.

I was running around so much I really didn’t get to enjoy or interact with the nearly 200 dogs that participated in the race which was sort of a bummer.  This is normally the case though so I am accustomed to it.   During the awards ceremony which Ali presented, she made a breif speech about the history of the race and how it all emerged from our adoption of Nicki from the Humane Society almost 12 years ago.  It was pretty amazing to have that one event blossom into what it is today, a massive race that generates serious money for the shelter.  I am proud of both Ali and myself for the roles we served in making that happen.

Randall served most of the race as event photographer and did a nice job, snapping nearly 600 pictures once the sun came up. Prior and after the race he was put in more of a pack mule role.  Cindy was the glue that helped keep the registration area running before the race, directing and assisting the volunteers in their roles.  She did a great job as well.

We were cleaned up and pulled out around 10 AM.  We grabbed well deserved cups of coffee from Dunkin Donuts on the way home.  Once we got there I was straight into a large pile of work.  After getting results posted I started the process of getting the various media from the race online.  This included Randall’s 600 pictures and two GoPro videos, one from my finish line camera and another from Chris’s Phantom, which he shot some aerial video with.  I did not reach a stopping point until close to 2PM.

Cindy had decided to go run out to pick up some supplies she was going to need for Sunday’s Super Bowl Party we were hosting.  Randall and I thought it would be smart for us to try to take naps since Saturday evening we were going to my boss’ retirement dinner at Mercato.  We both laid down for roughly an hour but neither of us got any tangible sleep during those 60 minutes.

The dinner was scheduled to start very early at 4:45 PM.  The time was set in order for our group of nearly 30 people to be able to take advantage of an early dinner menu at McCormick & Schmicks.  The three of us were one of the last to arrive, despite getting there only a few minutes late.  There was assigned seating, we sat in the back corner with my buddy who is now the head of our department and Debbie, another former co-worker and friend of mine whom retired a couple years ago.  Debbie and Cindy immediately hit it off which I expected.

The meal and celebration was quite enjoyable.  I used a steady stream of Bud Lights during the meal and a 5 hour energy prior to it to keep myself awake and sociable, despite getting up at 4:15 AM that morning.  Various people spoke during the party, including brief speeches by my buddy and myself, thanking Shirley for all the kindness she has shown us over the years.  It is a rare thing to have a boss you really like and I have been quite lucky to enjoy that situation for the last nearly 15 years.

As the meal wound down the majority of people headed out.  Our group was willing to stick around to go have a drink somewhere with Shirley and a few others.  Shirley said something to Cindy about wanting to get a table at a nearby place called Burn.  When I realized why it is named that, for it’s cigar bar theme, I was not into it at all.  Don bailed as soon as it was mentioned.  Cindy, Randall, Debbie and I went in and sat at an outdoor table.  Even sitting outdoors the stench of cigar smoke was wafting around us.  I really did not want to hang there.

Eventually Shirley and the rest of the crew showed up and we moved to an even larger table that happened to be right next to the outdoor lounge area where the smoke was thickest.  Cindy was ready to just get up and leave.  Randall was not enjoying the smoke either, both of them got up and stood at the perimeter to try to escape some of the stench.  We stayed for one drink and then apologized to Shirley, using our early alarm clock as reason to head out, which was not entirely untrue, I was tired for sure.  The cigar smoke however certainly accelerated our departure.

On Sunday morning Randall and I went out for a Dunkin Donuts ride.  Once again the temps were in the 50’s, a bit chilly on a bike but we dressed for it.  I was surprised when Randall told me that he had not been on a bike for nearly two months.  His Crossfit gym membership and half marathon training evidently totally squeezed cycling out of his life for awhile.

I was in front as we headed west.  I spotted what looked to be a wallet out of the corner of my eye in the bike lane as we whisked by.  I turned back and told Randall I think we just passed a wallet.  He asked if we should go back.  I said yea, we should, if it was my wallet I would want someone to do the same for me. Randall retrieved the wallet and said it had no cash but seemed intact otherwise.  He threw it in his jersey pocket for us to look at once we got to DD.

The ride there went well.  I pulled the entire way and I did so using my new, faster pedaling cadence that I found served me so well on my return ride from Ave Maria several weeks ago.  Once we got onto the long stretch between Wilson Blvd and Collier Blvd I maintained 20-21 mph the entire way with the wind at our backs.

While we were drinking our small coffees we pulled out the wallet.  There was no drivers license but we found other cards that gave us the guys name and where he lived.  A quick internet search did not reveal a phone number however.  Later when we got home I found the 26 year old on Facebook and sent him a message, hoping he would see it and reply.

The ride back was not easy.  Since I pulled the entire way there Randall pulled as we left.  The headwind was mostly hitting us at an angle but it still was making pedaling significantly tougher.  Somewhere around 3 miles into the 10 mile return trip I could tell Randall was losing steam.  I asked him if he wanted me to pull, something I am not sure I have ever done.  I am used to Randall being the puller in tough conditions since he puts so many more miles in than I do normally.  Randall tapped his right side, meaning he was ready for a breather.  I got deep on my aero bars I pulled ahead.

Despite the wind I was able to keep the speed over 17 mph, even during the worst of it.  By the time we made the northern turn I was able to pop back up to 18, 19 and even 20 mph for the last part of the ride.  I think the combo of being able to get small on my aero bars and my increased pedal speed made all the difference.  I used to think that I was getting more bang for my buck by pedaling slower at a higher gear, getting more wheel rotation per pedal stroke.  I am now in the exact opposite camp. Keeping my legs spinning at a lower overall resistance level seems to allow me to actually go faster, longer than I could before.  To be able to pull into the wind that last 7 miles with as little cycling as I have been doing was a good thing.

Cindy again had to run out during the day Sunday for more party supplies.  I took some time to install some of the additional chicken coop defenses that I ordered. I attached more of the red LED predator lights and an 80 LED, super bright solar floodlight.  If anything approaches the coop on the side where the break in occurred it will be blinded and hopefully scared away instantly.  We now have a total of four predator lights on the coop/run as well.

Most of the afternoon was spent doing prep for our Super Bowl party.  Of course Cindy was by far the leader in work accomplished.  She had spent a lot of time and effort planning the party out.  We had a couple disagreements on some logistical issues like furniture layout but eventually she came around to my line of thinking.

We had a decent amount of people show up early to partake in the outdoor activities like slack lining, tire flipping, rope climbing and pull ups.  It was a lot of fun.  I was quite happy when I saw my buddy Sean pull up in the driveway.  His girlfriend had bowed out of the party earlier so I assumed he was not going to come either.  It was a pleasant surprise and since he was the strongest and most vocal Patriots supporter it was good to have his perspective.

The betting board was pretty heavily utilized and once again seemed to be one of the more popular parts of the party.  Even if you know nothing about football it is fun to gamble just a little bit.  Before the party I was getting worried that we had too many people showing up.  We arranged the house to maximize sitting space both on furniture and the floor. (Cindy bought two bean bag chairs)  It turned out a good handful of people we thought were coming could not make it so we had ample room for everyone.

During the night I downed a six pack of Bud Light Platinums solo so that pretty much took care of my drinking needs.  I loosely paid attention to the game but was too drunk to care all that much about it.  I was more sober towards the end so I could appreciate the dramatic finish which allowed the Patriots to snatch victory from what looked to be a crushing defeat. I remember laughing at some commercials and saying what the fck to others, you don’t need me to recap them for you.

A number of people left before the end of the game which is often the case.  At the very end it was just us, Sean and two of Cindy’s girlfriends from the running club.  I think everyone involved, regardless of their departure time enjoyed themselves which is all Cindy and hope for.  After the last person left Cindy dug into clean up as much as she could.  There was no way we were going to get everything back in place Sunday night but we made a hell of a dent at least.  We didn’t get to bed until after midnight.

Cindy was unlucky enough to have to work Monday.  Randall and I had taken Monday off as a recovery day and we were both glad we did.  When we went out for coffee we stopped and grabbed the dogs so they could get to spend some time with their favorite uncle.  After getting them I took Randall for his first trip to Rural King so he could see what all the fuss was about.  I am not sure how impressed he was but I think he definitely found aspects of the store interesting.  One of the things I bought there was a raccoon sized live trap.  I plan to try to catch the predator and release him far away.

Cindy would prefer if I would enact eye for an eye justice on the animal but that only would happen if I caught the raccoon mid-attack.  Otherwise I just don’t have it in me to end an animals life for doing what is is hard wired to do.  I could have prevented the attack, regardless of the raccoons intentions.

I also made a pit stop at Home Depot to grab one more clasp for the coop.  While I was there I also grabbed a bag of large white egg rock.  When I got home I used it to augment the border around the flowers Cindy planted where we buried the chickens, creating a touching little memorial for them.

I also installed the rest of my coop hardware. I installed brackets on the big front coop door and looped a massive caribiner through them, preventing what would be unlikely access by another animal.  I replaced another flimsy door loop as well as installing the second clasp lock on the other side door.  I now feel confident that I have done all I can to ensure the safety of future chickens in the coop.

For a good portion of Monday Randall and I just vegged out, watching a How It’s Made marathon on the Science Channel.  I find that show fascinating and addicting.  Randall liked it too.  Cindy finds it interesting too but only in much shorter bursts than I do.

During the day I tracked down the guy whose wallet we found.  One of the cards indicated where he worked so we called his employer and got his cell phone number.  The guy was so relieved his wallet was found.  When he showed up he told me he and his friends got into some fight Saturday night after the Country Jam that was held at the county fairgrounds.  Evidently after the scuffle his wallet wound up in the back of their pick up truck on the tailgate and subsequently on the road during the drive home.  He was very grateful for our efforts and offered me money for the good deed which I of course refused.  Doing the right thing should not come with a price tag.

Randall headed out a little before 5 after saying goodbye to the girls.  I thanked him for a good weekend and all of the help with Ali’s race.  It’s always nice to have him hang out for a couple days.

Once he left I dug into more chores including paying my bills and some other things.  As I was working on my bills I popped open a running club email that had some information in there that I found extremely irritating.  It was so irritating that it pretty much dominated the rest of the evening, causing me to be short and grumpy with Cindy and is probably one of the reasons I could not fall back asleep after waking up at 2:30 AM.

For quite awhile I have been teetering back and forth regarding what I am and not willing to deal with when it comes to my duties associated with the club.  I now have a pretty definitive line in the sand as a result of this latest episode of bad judgement.  There are exactly two options that I will be choosing between based on what happens next, either one is a vast improvement over what I have been dealing with for the last couple years.  These issues affect my quality of life and I am not willing to allow that to be the case going forward.