This is the third year in a row that I've done the Auckland Round The Bays fun run. I did it in 2008 and 2009, and add to that this year.
It's also the first out of the three that I didn't really want to be there. If I hadn't registered beforehand, I would've stayed home.
But, since I'd registered and paid for the t-shirt (which always looks awesome), I figured I'd head along.
I went into the reception area of the gym, after very little sleep after Lady Gaga and an aching body after some insane Body Jamming the day before. I know who the events coordinator/manager/... 'guy' is for Les Mills New Zealand (LMNZ), so I saw him and went up to him to tell him I was doing the event.
He asked me what my first name was, I told him, and he went "Oh yes! That's right! I remember now."
...
Uh... I don't know why he'd 'remember' my name, unless he's read some of the blog articles or heard things via Facebook or Through The Grapevine. But anyways, he's a lovely, friendly bloke, so I guess there's worse people who can remember what your name is.
He directed me over to the girl who had the list of names, and she gave me my race card to pin on. She said to the girl with the t-shirts, "Can we get a size 12 for Raina here?"
...
Uh... No.
No size 12 for Raina here. "I don't think a size 12 is going to fit... what's your largest size, give me that.", I said. I know full well that those shirts run really small and a size 12 would NOT have fitted. I got give the shirt in an 18 - a 16 would've fitted, but by the time I'd changed into it, I was too lazy to go and change it for a smaller size.
Normally, the team assembles for a group photo before walking down to the start line together. Here's the one from 2009.
This year, I didn't hang around for it. I quickly slunk out without saying anything to anyone and walked down to the start line myself. I just wanted to be alone. I had so many thoughts going through my head, repeating a lot of negative energy that I've been exposed to recently, that I just put on my iPod and cranked it up, instead filling my head with Let's Play A Love Game Play A Love Game Ga Ga Oo La La Want Your Bad Romance. (Yes, I went to a Lady Gaga concert the night before.)
I actually don't remember any detail about the race. I just remember shutting out the fact that there were 70,000 people around me and thinking through a plan of action for the next week. The things I need to do, the results I want to achieve, the actions I have to take, the words I have to say. It became an allocated slot of time to concentrate and remove myself from everything that's been happening recently and focus on how I should be handling myself.
I finished in just over 100 minutes - I was actually at the finish line at 99-ish minutes but because there was a stampeded of people who wanted to get within 100 minutes, there was a mass of people waiting to get their bib barcodes scanned, and I got stuck waiting behind them.
I pulled a protein bar out of my bag to refuel for the walk back. Suddenly there was this guy next to me who touched me gently on my shoulder and said, "Heeeeeeey, how are you doing?", in a softspoken, but slightly patronising manner. I was totally weirded out by this, but thought it could be a blog reader or someone who's seen me on the Les Mills DVDs. "Hi...?" I respond, a bit anxious.
He says,
"You might want to consider eating something healthy after a walk. Eating a chocolate brownie isn't good for you... it's full of fat and sugar and you especially don't need that."
He caught me on a bad day.
I said, "Um... It's not a brownie. It's a protein bar. A FUCKING PROTEIN BAR."
His expression changed to surprise, and then he skulked away looking a bit sheepish. As I looked over my shoulder, fuming as to what had just happened, I saw him go up to someone else who was eating an ice-cream.
Give me strength, people. Round The Bays is supposed to be a fun run.
Guess some people have a very warped idea of what 'fun' is.
