I starting typing this in my Facebook status, and then realized how long it was getting and decided, why not blog it instead? I've had a hankering to write something anyway. So, a0 long Facebook status, or short blog post, either way, I have a stupid little story to tell.
My running group meets at 5:00 am on Thursdays. Yes, I said FIVE O CLOCK in the freezing your tail off crack o' dawn AM. And I have to drive about 10-15 minutes to meet them. That means I have to wake up about 4:30 to get dressed, and then drive.
Today, (like a lot of Thursdays lately), I hit snooze when my alarm went off. More than once. After the third time (sorry, hubby) I decided to just turn it off and go back to sleep. Lazy me. Bless (or curse) Scooter, the dog, because not 2 minutes after I turned off my alarm, he starting barking. After I got up to let him out, I figured I might as well, get dressed and go run.
It took me a few minutes to find my group. There are a few different routes they might take, so I had to gamble. Finally, I found them, pulled up ahead, parked and hopped out to join them.
I have a lot of people ask how can I run 6 months pregnant. Well, honestly, it's not that different than running not pregnant, except that I have to stop 2-3 times during my run, when nature calls. It's really not that different than any other time of day for us pregnant folk. I've already had to take a break from writing this post and make a pit stop. (Dear baby, my bladder is NOT a trampoline!).
So, I started running with my group about 2 miles into their run, ran the length of the course, and thought, well, I'll just make up the difference in mileage and run back to my car. No biggie. I'll just be a few minutes later than normal.
Another thing about me and running. I am a social runner. Through and through. I NEVER run alone. Unless I'm running interval sprints on the treadmill at the gym, and that's really only for like 15 minutes, so it doesn't count. And running in the dark doesn't really bother me so much, but that's probably because I'm always running with someone.
After I said goodbye to my friends, and went along my merry way, back to my car, I soon realized that, um, yeah, I'm running alone. At 6:15 in the morning. In the dark. I didn't really get scared, per se, but of course, I was more cautious. I don't want to get hit by a car (it's a lot easier to see a pack of runners in the dark, than a single one). And I didn't have my ipod. I had my phone, but no earbuds. The miles get kinda long and boring without music or conversation. It gets in my head. I could tell I slowed down, but knowing I wanted to get it overwith, I refused to walk. As I turned the last corner on the road where I parked, and trudged up one of those stupid hills that doesn't feel like a hill when you driving it, but feels like Mt. Everest when your running it (ok I walked a little bit), I crested the top and then it hit me.
I parked at the cemetary. Duh. Running alone. Darkness. Cemetary. Nah, that's not scary AT ALL! I totally had a Thriller moment. Good thing I was finishing a run, and had some good endorphins going, and I was in a good mood, or it could've gotten ugly. I just kept telling myself, if all of these people buried here decided to come back for a visit, they're not going to visit their decomposing bodies, they'll go visit their still-living loved ones. I'm not going to see a ghost today.
That didn't stop me from sprinting to my car, and peeling out of there as fast as I could.
