Trolley Run

The Trolley Run was a success! Here's how it went down.

Angie and I awoke to the squawking alarm at 5:45 a.m. At the very moment my eyes opened, I thought, "Why do people pay money to get up at the butt-crack of dawn to run? Why?!" Then I got up, ate a granola bar and put on my running clothes. We were out the door by 6:30.

We parked near the finish line and I got on the "special" bus that took the runners to the start point. See? It says "special." I was proud to be boarding the special bus.





















As we headed north, I noticed some of the elite runners actually running the 4 miles to the starting line. Assholes.

Funnily enough, I de-bussed (is that a word?) right outside Waldo Pizza, the location of my infamous 30th surprise birthday party. It was cold and dreary. I realized I should have gone to the bathroom again prior to leaving the house, but didn't want to go in the port-a-potty. I'm a girl like that. So I held it.

At this point, I bumped into my co-worker friend Jaime, who was there with his family. There were thousands of runners participating in the race, so I'm shocked I happened upon him in such a large crowd.

The race was broken up into several skill levels. I was in the green heat, meaning that I anticipated finishing the race in under 45 minutes. The green people were positioned right in the middle of the pack. The dude who says "go" told the elite (red) people to go at 7:45, then the blue people about 2 or 3 minutes later. It was another couple of minutes before the greens were allowed to go, and even then it took me a minute or two to cross over the starting line.

It felt so good to be part of that huge mass of runners. There was such an amazing energy. That's such a tree-hugging-hippie thing to say, but it's true. At a few points, the road stretched ahead and I could really get a sense of how many of us there were. It was like an undulating sea.

I was passing people left and right, zig-zagging my way through the crowd. All the streets were blocked off for us, and people came out of their houses to cheer us on. The course was mostly flat, with a few downhill points, and only a couple slight inclines. It was wonderfully easy. That's not to say I wasn't huffing and puffing like an 80 year old, but compared to my previous races, which were shorter distances, this was much more pleasant.

At about mile 2.5, I saw some of the elite runners, who had already finished, running back to the starting line. Assholes.

Now, when you look at the picture below, it looks like I'm crossing the finish line at about 48 minutes. However, my official time was 37:41 because it took so long to move each heat out of the starting area. I'm so stoked. That means I ran each mile in under 10 minutes! It's definitely a personal best for me. For your convenience, I marked myself with a white arrow.

Angie and I managed to find each other and go to the "after party." For those of you who participate regularly in races, maybe you can tell me- why, oh why, do they have such unhealthy food there? I mean, sure, you can go for the orange and banana. But who's going to do that when there are donuts and pizza there? Yup, there was pizza, and I ate a piece. I seriously doubt I burned enough calories during the race to neutralize said pizza.

Anyway, I'm very pleased with my finish time and the experience. This is definitely a race I'll be doing again next year.