8.15.2012

Pass or Fail

I don't know about you, but when I am running a long run, I can't think very well. Sometimes I decide to do a loop when I am in the middle of the run, but my addition skills are lacking, and I end up running way less or way more than I anticipated. Sometimes I get lost when I am running on trails.

And sometimes, cool things happen to me and I don't even realize it.

At mile 30 during the race on Sunday, I heard a runner coming up behind me and I glanced back to see a tan, fit man coming up pretty fast behind me. As he passed me, I said, "good job", as we do when we are being passed at the end of a long race. I could barely muster a "good job"; I definitely couldn't pass anyone at that point! He said something to me about the walkers (we were in a park on a paved loop around a lake at this point) being in his way. As I ran behind him, over the thoughts of how much my blisters were hurting and how glad I would be to be done, I remember thinking, "that guy has some KILLER calf muscles". I kind of watched his tan, muscular legs as he quickly ran away from me. 

That was the end of that. He looked like every other runner. Shorts, check. Hat, check. Glasses, shoes, shirt. Muscular legs, skinny frame. Check, check, check.

Yesterday the results were posted, as well as some photos on the Facebook group for this race. Guess who beat me by 49 seconds? Guessssss! Come on; I will wait.

....

....

If you guessed Oprah, you were wrong. She only runs marathons. Plus, I am faster than her!

If you guessed Scott Jurek, you were wrong also. But that would have been cool.

And you wouldn't have been off by much.



In case you don't know who Dean Karnazes is, he ran 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days, is a famous ultra runner and wrote a few books about running. He also hails from the Bay Area, but I have never seen him around. So I am a little star struck!

Have you ever met a celebrity (and yes, being passed by one counts!)? If you could meet one (living) famous person, who would it be? What would you say to them?

15 comments:

  1. Well that is exciting! I'm sure I never would have realized it either.

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  2. That is soooooooooooo cool!!! You guys are practically bff :)

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  3. Wow, sweet! I would take getting passed by Dean on the trail as a life highlight. that's pretty cool.

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  4. That is pretty exciting! How awesome!

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  5. Was he the guy that they featured on Kelly and Regis awhile ago? (Maybe that was last summer?). How cool!!!

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  6. No way! That is amazing! How very cool. Too bad you couldn't have taken a picture w/ him at the end (although that was probably the last thing on your mind at that point!)

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  7. That is so cool! Wow, you are one speedy lady to finish so close to him:) Very exciting!

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  8. Well I think it is awesome that he beat you by less than a minute! Dang you are speedy!

    The only celebrity I have met is Hal Higdon! And he is only a celebrity in the running community, of course. I met him at the Twin Cities marathon expo a couple of years ago and had him sign a couple of books!

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  9. Wow! How cool!

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  10. So cool! Did you know he was there? I wouldn't have recognized anyone after running that many miles. I'm with you, my math skills suck when I'm running. Although doing some math occupies a lot of time.

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  11. That is pretty cool! And to be almost as fast as him is even cooler!

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  12. That's awesome! I think it's good that you didn't recognize him--it was probably refreshing for him.

    My brain doesn't work so well in that kind of context either.

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  13. Oh that is freaking awesome! You must have done really awesome :) I am so impressed you did an ultra, I was so fried after 26.2 miles, but ha, I thought I would never go beyond a half marathon at one time too.

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  14. That is so cool! Dean is my hero! I met him before he was considered a running "celebrity" and I started running. Simple as that. I would love to meet Rich Roll, Scott Jurek and Tony Horton. I'm not sure what I would say. I would just be happy to be able to speak in their presence HAHA

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