Oh, well--nobody's perfect, right?

Continuing our habit of repeating 5Ks that we've enjoyed in the past, 3/4 of Team WestEnders was ready to rock the DNA Day race in Chapel Hill this weekend. Because we've participated before, I'm already on the mailing list, so I'd efficiently signed us up a few months ago when they notified me that registration was open. Now, here's where I'm not quite sure what occurred. I could swear that when I completed the process and wrote it down on our family calendar, the details were exactly the same as the last two times we've done the event--beginning and ending at the Old Well on UNC's campus, at 9 a.m.--so that's the information I dutifully noted.

And believe me, I check carefully for these particulars, 'cuz it's an accepted fact that when we're searching among the many options available for 5Ks in our area, we strongly prefer the reasonable 9:00 kickoff, over the myriad of 8 (ugh) or even 7:30 (are you freakin' kidding me?) choices. (Aaannnnd, by now I'm sure you've picked up on the not-so-subtle foreshadowing, yeah? Stay tuned...)

To be honest, Riley and I were looking forward to it...while Derek was coming along because we sort of...guilted him into it...with the "but we all do it TOGETHER" aspect. And with the morning of the run being overcast (as per the yooszh, these days), warm, rainforest-level sticky, and threatening showers, none of us felt especially....let's say super-motivated...to get out there and pound the pavement. To sum up: there was definitely more yawning and half-hearted attempts at manufactured enthusiasm...than actual excitement.

Nevertheless, we mustered what energy we could--to pile into the car, make the short jaunt into town, secure a parking spot, and meander over to the starting line. I was actually pleased that we were so bang-on-time, for once, that we didn't have to practically sprint to make the official kickoff. And at first glance, nothing seemed out of the ordinary--for example, we spotted lots of other people in the general vicinity sporting the instantly recognizable bibs pinned to their workout shirts. However...as we approached the university's iconic landmark, I noticed that a great many of the other folks seemed to be...extremely red-faced and drippy. "Wow, they must have quite a warm-up routine," I thought to myself...obliviously. But then as we rounded the corner and came upon the course itself, I saw the crowds of bystanders...milling about....EATING.

I was suddenly overcome by a rush of confused thoughts, such as "Wait a minute...that can't be right! Why would they do that? It's a terrible idea to put all that food in your stomach before exercising!" And then it struck me...oooohhhhh....I pulled up sharply with the sinking sensation that something had gone very, very awry with the best laid plans of....mice and me. So I marched up to the friendly, helpful woman at the information table and politely inquired, "Um...did the race start at 8, by any chance?" She cheerfully assured me that it had, "Why yes! They changed the time this year!" Ohhh...kay...and do you have any idea when THAT memo was supposed to have been sent? This caused her perkiness to slip just a bit, as she admitted that she wasn't sure. Well, I'm here to tell you that I'm relatively certain it was AFTER I had already signed up--but unfortunately there didn't appear to be anything we could do about it at the moment, as the proverbial ship had obviously sailed on this particular activity.

Humph! This left Riley and me quite disgruntled...since after all, we'd gone through the whole "wake up; don running gear; consume light, healthy snack" sequence...and we were therefore prepped and ready to cruise for 3 miles or so. Derek, on the other hand, declared that he would be quite delighted to return home and head back to bed. So I made an Executive Decision to drop the older teenager back at the house, and take Riley to a local trail where the two of us could go ahead and run our own makeshift 5K.

And you know what? It did commence sprinkling at some point, so we got a little wet. And there were no medals at the end for our performance. Or free edibles donated by neighborhood businesses. But we each had a satisfying trek at a comfortable pace of our choosing...thereby checking off our sweat session for the day. And as a bonus, this venue happens to be right down the street from a Dunkin' Donuts, so we made our way over there afterwards and put together a lovely recovery nosh from the menu. (Hey, iced coffee counts, y'all!) Add to that the fact that we had already gotten our t-shirts from the official race-that-we-missed anyway, and I'm just gonna go ahead and call this a Win...ish...and move on to the next one...where I'll be sure to TRIPLE check the start time!