Last run with Team Oz (I'm not looking in your car, Lindsay!)

Yesterday was my last run with Team Oz, not counting the San Antonio race (RNRSA), of course! It was all the way in Livermore and, since it was the 20-miler for the full RNRSA marathoners, there were staggered starts. I knew I couldn't stay till the end of the run, so if I wanted to see everyone, it meant I had to be there at 7:30am!

I should've learned by now that the 7:30am group wouldn't leave on time. Boy, was that an exaggeration! I think we all left more or less together around 8:10am or so. But it was fun because we got to spend quality pre-run time together.

In fact, the team got me a little going away present. (Actually, it's sorta big and it's pretty heavy!) When I first arrived and got out of the car, I walked right by the open rear hatch of Lindsay's car and she yelled, "DON'T look in my car!" Fine! I wasn't anyway. Big weirdo. :-) As we stood around waiting for everyone to get there, I moved around a bit, and Lindsay kept yelling, "DON'T turn around!" All right, already!

The surprise was a huge basket full of goodies from Trader Joe's for our road trip out to Colorado. How cool is that?! It's perfect! Especially since there is no Trader Joe's in Colorado, which Lindsay had heard me lamenting on more than one occasion. (Expansion into the state isn't even in the store's 5-year plan; how will I live?!)

Also in honor of my last run with the team, Lindsay decided to run with me. When she announced this, the coaches almost fell over! She usually never trains with the team, so no one ever sees her run! Of course, she does run quite often, and she seems to always participating in races with her mom. Heck, she's done like 20 million bazillion races, including half- and full marathons! But the coaches couldn't let her escape with out a healthy dose of razzing.

The plan was for Lindsay and I to run out and back a few miles together, then I'd run a few more. (She only wanted to go four miles and I needed to get in eight.) Well, Gary goes, "Why don't you run with me -- I've got a shortcut!" Oh dear. I've heard this before! But, the more the merrier, so Gary, Lindsay, Coach Haakon and I headed out in the reverse direction on the course.

Haakon had marked the course in the wee hours of the morning, and at select intersections, he stopped to chalk additional arrows on the ground. Gary's plan was to do the 10-mile loop so we didn't have to go out and back, but we'd shave part of the loop off by cutting through a few neighborhoods. I looked at Gary and asked, "Is this your way of trying to get us to run 20 miles today?"

Fortunately, we didn't get lost and the shortcut worked, although it only cut off one mile instead of two. All in all, though, it was a good run! We even managed to run a bit under a 10 mile/minute pace, at least according to Gary's watch. Not too shabby!

By the way, how cool is this bumper sticker on the back of Jon's truck?