Woke up this morning in a Ramada Inn by the Seattle Airport, my girlfriend having already left for a quick trip to Canada with her family. It was sort of early, 7:00AM, but it was really 10:00AM Eastern time. I had to get up and head to Seward Park for a 10K.
Do you ever get that panic when leaving a hotel room that you’re leaving something behind? Of course you do. We all do. I find that the panic is proportional to how fast you leave a hotel room. If you just get your bags and split, you obviously left something behind, right? You can’t just easily leave somewhere without making a mistake. So, I lingered in the room for a half an hour before getting a Lyft to my race.
A couple of things…
One, Seattle’s colder than New York, a lot colder right now. I’m a fan of the cold. I just wasn’t expecting it.
Two, can Lyft drivers literally do nothing without putting it in google maps? The driver arrived at what google maps said my destination was. It was the middle of a road. He stopped and said, “Okay, have you been to where you’re going before?” “Um, maybe pull it up on the map there?” He did and Seward Park was a block away. Instead of just driving there, he put it into the app again. “Can’t you just go up there and take a right and drive to it?” He didn’t listen, he was too busy trying to get an app to give him directions to a park that was two blocks away.
I got to my race early. The 5K was at 8:30, the 10K was at 9:30 but I got there at 8:00. Usually when they have two races, everyone starts together. Not today. Some sporty runner types ran both.
As is to be expected, things that are not in New York are very similar to New York but far less complicated. I showed up with two large bags – everything I have with me – and checked them at bag check, no problem. There was one woman at the table to take care of it. It wasn’t a whole ordeal. The atmosphere was still cool, it was just a smaller scale. The line of port-a-potties was 10 long instead of 60. There weren’t any corals. I still got a race shirt that I wore during the race because I’m a dork.
And I hate to harp on this, people, but I got a P.R. again. I ran the 10K in 45:23, my previous best was 47:27, seven minutes faster than the first one I ever ran on July 4th, 2017. I know it’s braggy but I’m proud of myself.
I met up with my friend Bharat and finally go to meet his son, which was very cool. I also got to meet his friend Tenaya. I’ve known Bharat for seventeen years and he’s always been talking about Tenaya. It was to the point where he was like Vera on Cheers or Tino from My So-Called Life, this character that you knew was around but you just wouldn’t see. So, yeah, I met Snuffleupagus and he’s a good dude.
Two cool things about the internet…
So, the Spurs Man U game is on tomorrow and I’m free to watch it. Since I knew I’d be in Seattle, I said, “I wonder if there’s a Seattle Spurs Supporters club and if they’ll be watching?” There is and they are. I sent an email to the guy and he got back right away. That will be cool.
Also, I wrote a post yesterday about being in Seattle and two friends who I forgot live here saw it and got in touch. I’ll be seeing them shortly and heading to one of Seattle’s plethora of breweries.
It’s been a good day. I haven’t been to Starbucks yet. I will go. Oh yes, I will go.
