I have very nostalgic memories of the Rex Lee Run, so I was VERY excited to come out of a seven year retirement and get my stripes on again.
I spent the night before the race in Provo to do some pre-race warm-ups. We began by carbing up.
We stopped at Del Taco to get a carbonero steak taco. It came a little spicy for Morgan's tastes, she tried to tame it down with some ketch-up.
I, on the other hand, preferred to add some Del Scorchio sauce for an extra kick.
Then we shared a strawberry churro (purely for Senor Churro research).
While we were sitting in Del Taco, we saw a Taco Bell directly outside the window. We began discussing the new dorito taco shell and before we knew it, we were in Taco Bell eating a dorito taco.
While we were comparing the atmosphere of the two most recently visited Mexican fast food restaurants, we looked out the window and saw an Arby's with signs promoting their not always available dollar menu. All the sudden we found ourselves inside Arby's splitting an original roast beef sandwich.
That's when we decided we were officially prepared for the Rex Lee Run 2012.
Or were we?
If you pay close attention to the pictures above, you will notice that they were all taken with my poor quality cell phone camera because I had forgotten my camera to document our carb loading. Had I remembered to bring my camera, I might have noticed that the battery was flashing red and I would have been able to charge the batteries all night and have the camera ready to document the entire race.
Unfortunately, this is the one picture I took before the camera completely died. It's not even us at the beginning of the race, it's us walking to the race in the freezing wind.
There are only two main reasons why I run this race: 1) The stripes and 2) The classic pictures that come from documenting every step of the race with those I love.
As you can see, this picture documents the first two fiascos of the race.
Fiasco #1: The death of my camera battery that allowed for no further picture taking of the race.
Fiasco #2: Look at those yellow stripes. Yellow. Do I even need to remind us all that Saturday was St. Patrick's Day? My favorite holiday. The last time I checked, you're supposed to wear green. Not yellow. But Ashley, they did green stripes last year. Do you know how many shades of green there are in this world? Pick another green. It's that easy. Morgan and I drew shamrocks all over our shirts as a form of protest. Half the racers were wearing their own green shirts during the race. I pinched the other half.
Fiasco #3: Morgan was able to pick up my shirt the day before (wasn't that so nice of her?) but they did not have my bib or racing chip ready. We underestimated the time it took to walk to the race and we were running towards the starting line after picking up my supplies with both of us trying to frantically pin on my bib and tie my chip to my shoe. We did not finish before the gun went off, so in essence, we lost our first race of the day.
Fiasco #4: There were no water cups during the race. I would guess that Morgan and I were half way through the pack, not even close to the end, and yet when we got to both water stations they were completely out of water cups. Either that was very poor planning or the people ahead of us took 5 cups each.
Fiasco #5: The 10kers lapped us. I blame it on the dehydration.
Fiasco #6: We almost saw a poodle in the race get run over.
Fiasco #7: The poodle actually beat us in the race. A whole lap ahead of us.
Fiasco #8: The crowd at the end cheered for the people ahead of us and behind us. And not us.
Fiasco #9: We stood in a FIFTEEN minute line to get our half a piece of Great Harvest Bread.
Fiasco #10: The line was out in the cold, muscle-cramping wind.
Fiasco #11: There were no water cups in line.
Fiasco #12: On the way home, we passed several scout masters handing out donuts to all their boys. They did not hand any to us.
Fiasco #13: The scouts didn't have water cups either.
Fiasco #14: We remembered to stop at the stop sign by the Smith Field House. If only we had remembered to do that the night before...
Fiasco #15: Once we got home and had access to working cameras again, we forgot to take an after shot of the race (the one idea that brought us solace when the camera died). I had already completely changed (I needed to get in my blatant green immediately!) and Morgan had already taken off her number.
Fiasco #16: I forgot to get a drink of water before my long drive home, and my car didn't have water cups.
Rex Lee Run 2012, I would like to withdraw my $15 out of your cure cancer fund.
And put it into your water cup supply fund. Thank you.
