The Glass City (Half) Marathon

 We both survived!  And were successful!  (Despite Fate's best efforts.... ) And I would like to note that we both succeeded with each of our objectives.  Cheryl with her race time and Me with my matched Beer Mug set!   Oh!  And I finished without injury or walking...   Win Win!  (Win!)

Now the drama part.   ( There is always the drama, right?)  

I mentioned that Cheryl was relying on Google Maps a little too much in the last post.   Well....   Google Maps pulled out all of the stops and decided to take the "Intelligence" out of the A.I. program.   She/He/ It...  Put us about 10 miles away from the race course in the dark rainy morning.   Visibility near nil!   Frustration rising!   The hour and a half we set up for parking and bathroom visits was cut to 30 minutes!   The parking lots were filled.  We were forced to park further away than we had planned, and had only minutes to get in line for the bathrooms and hope we could finish before the gun went off!  

And then there was the threat of rain.  Which eventually happened about midway through the race.  By that time, it was more like a blessing rather than an inconvenience.   The temps were hot and humid, but the clouds kept the sun off of our heads. (And the rain cooled us down.)  Eventually, the clouds parted and the temps rose to 85 degrees! Very harsh running conditions... but we were both finished by then. 

Upon completion of my race, I was to link up with Cheryl at the finish line as she came in.  ( Just like last year.)   There was just one catch:   I missed her!

After all of the races we have been through, it was bound to happen.  And it happened here.  I figured I had at least an hour before she finished so I could change clothes and hydrate up to stop my legs from cramping.   Once I stopped running,  the pain set in and despite it being hot outside,  I began to shiver uncontrollably.   I ran to the car,  swapped out my clothes,  left my mug and gathered up fresh clothes and rain gear for Cheryl. I ran back tot he finish line.

An hour and a half later,  she is no where to be seen.   She had finished before I got back somehow and I was stuck searching for her at the finish line.   She wandered around trying to find me...  exhausted, cold, wet, and hangry!  She was thinking I was still on the race course..  Or DEAD! 

There was one other minor detail.   I had the keys to the car.  

It seemed like the right idea:   I get the car keys because I would finish first.   I could do what I did and find her...  like I had planned, and did last year.    Only things did not work out the same way this year....  Murphy's law of War:   Plans never last past first contact.  Instead, I went from Hero to Zero instantly!

By the time we finally found each other, we were both DONE with Toledo!    We managed to survive and make it back to the car.  ( After I scored a matching mug!  Yeah!)   We went back to the Hotel,  turned off Google Maps,  And found that we had everything we needed just five minutes down the road!   Stores, gas, food!  We did NOT have to navigate through downtown Toledo every time.    Thanks Google!

  Perhaps the best part of the trip was that evening meal.   After the race,  we grabbed some of our own beer and a couple of sandwiches from Meijers and ate them in the lobby of the hotel.   We had the entire place to ourselves.   It was peaceful and we managed to salvage the good stuff while talking about the bad stuff.  

 
Sometimes when you are on an adventure,  the stresses can become a   bit overwhelming.
 
  But that is short lived in comparison to the memories that are made.  And those are the things you cherish and laugh about when you are old and reminiscing about your life. I hope that tid-bit of wisdom is realized by people other than myself.    Because life is short.   And every second count!