Binge Life (Part 2)

We were still motivated after our first run, so each run that week got slightly better. The weeks started passing, and it was getting easier. But then we had to start doing long runs. In other words, more than 4 miles, and we all struggled. We didn’t want to give up, so we needed to make some changes.

We cleaned up our diets. We stopped boozing every night. Time of Our Lives stopped smoking. BFF took care of her ankle. I gave up burritos. It was hard work. Revenge running a half marathon sounds great at first, but then when you actually have to do it, it sorta sucks. I gutted out each of the runs, but when I met my friends to do our group run, I was the only one left in the group.

I needed to do this for myself and maybe by myself. It’s not as fun running by yourself. At least for me it wasn’t, but on the bright side, I was running longer runs, so at least I’d finally experience that “runner’s high” that Smug Runners/Happy

Couple had talked about. I ran 7-mile, 8-mile, and even 9-mile runs, and there was no high to be found. Nothing. I did sprints to increase my time. I ran longer distances than I was supposed to, but still no high. No nothing. I’d gotten higher by just walking around the village from inhaling second hand pot than from running 10-miles! I still couldn’t eat whatever I wanted. And with no end in sight, I realized running really wasn’t what it’s cracked up to be. WTF?

I had one of my longest and last runs in the park and who meets me there out of nowhere, but Time of Our Lives. She’d been majorly missing in action, but had been keeping up with the running despite being out of touch. She brought BFF who had a slower pace because of the bum ankle, but was able to run the entire course without stopping. We were in pretty good shape for the race the next week. I couldn’t believe it was finally going to happen.

The race was in Philly. We did a road trip down on Friday, thinking we’d hang out and relax until Sunday. But then while driving through Pennsylvania, we passed a casino

and decided to stop in. Smoking, drinking and gambling all night really isn’t a great way to prepare for a half marathon. We were only going to stay an hour, but we were winning money, and when you’re on a roll...

At 3 in the morning, I was coughing from inhaling tons of smoke, Time of Our Lives was almost broke, and BFF was limping from standing all night. We drove the rest of the way to our hotel, and got there while the sun was rising. But there was hope because we still had all day Saturday to relax.

We took showers and quick naps, and then went to the marathon check-in center to get our numbers and register for the race the next day. Starving from being up all night, and hung over, we were eating huge Philly pretzels while checking in. Who do we see, but Smug Runners/Happy Couple. They were checking in too. They looked well-rested. Tan. Lean. We were some sort of unkempt motley crew of degenerate gamblers, smokers, and gigantic pretzel eaters. We all said hello and talked about the race the next day, but when we left, I felt worse than before. Why is it that some people always have it together and others...?

TO BE CONTINUED...