Why is everyone wearing medals?

It was hard to find motivation to run this morning. I spent last night drinking on 6^th street with some of my graduate school buddies. Not the way you want to prepare for the longest run of your life.

So slightly off my game, I took off this morning on a planned 8-mile route that would take me from my apartment to Town Lake. For those not familiar with Austin, Town Lake is located right next to downtown.

Anyway, as I neared downtown, I kept getting funny looks from people in running clothes. Then I noticed that they had medals around their necks. Then I noticed that a majority of them were wearing the same t-shirt. I started to do the math.

High volume of runners + Medals + Common t-shirts = Austin Marathon

The Austin Marathon took place this morning. And my planned route was going to place me right in the middle of the activities. I thought about changing my route, but I had already mapped out my exact distance. I decided to press on.

Once I reached 6^th street things started to get a bit awkward. People started giving me quizzical looks as they tried to determine if I was taking a shortcut or had gotten lost. This confusion reached a pinnacle once I hit 11^th street.

11^th street runs right in front of the Texas State Capital Building. Naturally, this would be an ideal street to include in any planned running activity. Problem was that both the Austin Marathon Committee and I both shared that view.

I decided this would be a once in a lifetime opportunity to mess with people’s heads.

I burst onto the race route, running way faster than the rest of the competitors. Then after about a quarter of a mile, I abruptly lept into the crowd and made my way toward Lavaca street. People had no idea what was happening. The sheer look of confusion as I raced past tired runners and their families kept had me in stitches the remaining two miles of my run.

All in all, it was an amazing run this morning, despite the lingering effects of last night.

“If you want to hoot with the owls, you’ve got to soar with the eagles.” – Unknown

Day #8: 8.22 miles – 64 min