Yeah, so it's 3:30 am and I was supposed to leave the house soon, but life has intervened again.
My last DNS, the 50 K trail run in March, happened to fall on the day my husband left for Afghanistan for the first time. I was kind of stressed out about that, and I thought that running for hours while worrying about his transit would be kind of unbearable, so I dropped out about a week before. Fortunately, my husband's trip (man, that sounds too pleasant a word) went well and he's back. That's the important thing.
Unfortunately, my husband had a work emergency a few hours ago--(edit: and he's still there, 12 hours later, with the car). It had looked like he'd be back in time, but now it's not going to happen, and I'm stuck. We have just the one car.
The race probably would not have gone well anyway. Hot weather aside, we got a puppy several days ago and she has mildly jacked up my sleep, even though she's old enough to mostly sleep through the night. This night, though, has been rough for her and so I've gotten one hour of sleep thus far, and now I'm approaching all-nighter mode and I'm wired awake. Hopefully I can use this vibe to polish off some work. The puppy is very very cute, by the way, and it blows my mind that somebody just dumped her in a yard. My old dog (to be known as #1 from now on) is still not entirely convinced about sharing the house with another dog, but this new dog is mostly adjusting quickly, small bladder aside, and she's already decent on the leash. I think she will be great to run with, but that won't happen for at least a year: got to wait until she's done growing. Yeah, it looks like we're keeping her. We're still in a "trial" period, and we haven't told our families or friends yet that we have her, but this dog is special.
At any rate, she is a far more pleasant obstacle than a work emergency. That has forced things into perspective. I was really looking forward to the race, despite my weather whining. I was raring to run on uninterrupted asphalt with other runners through the excitement of a race in a city, any city...instead, I could run today with #1, but I could almost cry too. This race has been a beacon for a few months but now it's snuffed. I should have pulled my shit together and hopped in the car too, or something...but this would have thrown off the dog potty schedule...I dunno. No guarantee that my husband wouldn't have needed the car at his disposal until who knows when. Anyway, I'm bummed.
However, I am reminded by the emergency that circumstances could be worse. I'm missing just a race. I have my husband and #1 and probably #2...I still have my super family! And I still have a bib for the Ottawa marathon in three weeks.
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4 comments:
I understand feeling bummed about this. I've DNS'd too, but weirdly I don't find the regret as long lasting as feelings after a bad race. And you might have saved yourself an injury by not running in your fatigued state. I think you made a sound decision in a non-ideal situation. PS: I'm so excited to hear about your new pup! Your growing family!
Thanks! My first dNS felt fine--I wasn't that pumped about that race anyway--but I'm still experiencing longing/regret over missing this one, but I'll get over it. It just wouldn't have worked out. If I'd gone with my husband to his work, then driven back, I would've been able to grab 2.5ish hours of sleep (probably zero due to nerves) before I would've had to go back out...assuming he could've gone without the car while I was running! At any rate, he was actually stuck working for about 18 hrs straight.
18 hrs! *speechless*
I think that's his new record, not counting missions and exercises. I'll have to ask him!
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