And so it starts again

"As the largest relay race in North America, The Hood To Coast Relay stretches 197 miles from the top of Oregon's majestic Mt. Hood down to the beautiful Pacific Ocean in Seaside, Oregon. Over 12,000 runners show up to experience this annual event, now in its 25th year!"

Well, once again, I have a goal, or maybe a goal has me. A friend of my wife’s called me up today to invite me to join their Hood to Coast team this year. I called her right back and agreed to join the team and take which ever lengths they decided to give me. I’ve been trying to get on a team for three years now. I was an alternate once and I’ve made embarrassingly obvious hints that I’d like to join other teams, only to be told gently that their turnover is “quite low.”

Thinking about the crash course training I need get going on got me to thinking about my friend Andy. Every couple of months the one whose turn it is to get a free lunch will call the other up and invite him to lunch. I know that is backwards for most social arrangements, but that’s how we have worked it out. Andy and I are old ex-coworkers who like to get together periodically and talk about work, family, and most importantly running. Hood to Coast is Andy’s big event for the year and he is on a really good team that I have wanted to be on for a long time.

Email exchange was something like this:

Me – “You up for lunch this week, tomorrow, or next week M, T, or Th?”

Him – “How about T or Th? How’s running?”

Me – “Tuesday. Running coming along. I’m doing Hood to Coast this year!”

Him – “Really? My next line was to invite you to go with us. We lost someone. Where”

Me – “How about that Japanese place that used to be the Rusty Duck. Meet you there at noon unless I hear different.”

I guess that last line doesn’t add much to the story. Anyway, Tomorrow I ride in to work and run home. This entails carrying three pairs of shoes on the bike but should be pretty doable.

Keith tells me that my rss feed is messed up, which might explain why nobody ever reads my blog. I oughta get that fixed.