I flew home on Tuesday night Wednesday morning at 1 am for Thanksgiving. I have slept most of the break away, but I did have to get up super early (aka 7:30 am Indiana time and therefore 5:30 California time!!!) because I participated in the Turkey Trot, a 10k (6.2 mile) run on Thanksgiving morning. Well, this was not my usual run.
Picture this: I usually wake up, put on my shorts and a TANK top, tie my shoes, grab my ipod and run into a bright sunny California morning. Well, that was not what today was going to be. I woke up and it was “snowing” outside. I put snow in quotations because it was not the pretty white snowflakes falling down from the sky on a dark winter’s night as you sip hot cocoa. No, it was wet sleety rain that didn’t stick because the ground was still too warm and it poured down on me drenching the fifteen layers of clothes I had put on.
Tally of clothes I was wearing:
shirts: 4
pants: 2
socks: 2 per foot (and shoes obviously)
hat!: 1
gloves!: 1
My parents (and probably most of the people at the race…who are obviously all crazy for running in this kind of weather) were making fun of the amount of clothes I had on yet somehow I was still cold. This is not even the worst part. If that was not enough, I missed the start of the race. Explanation you ask? Well…there was a 10k and a 5k. I was running the 10k and that race started first…little did I know. I watched as all the 5k runners raced off into the cloudy day thinking how much better I was for running the 10k. When I made this point aloud, the runner next to me informed me that in fact the group I was standing in was for the 5k and I had just watched all the 10k runners take off. My fifty pounds of clothing and I trudged to the front and I explained what had happened. They let me run the 10k, but I had to start all by myself chasing after the runners whom had already left (in front of all the 5k runners mind you). embarrassing? funny? ehh just me.
After all of that stress, something very cool happened! As I was running (almost at 2 miles), a man next to me gave me the “fight on” sign. I took my headphones out and he asked “What are you doing all the way back here.” I quickly muttered something about missing the start, but he just left and said, “No, I mean back in the Midwest?” It turns out that he (and his son whom he was running with) were from California. The man’s dad had played football for USC! We talked for a little bit, and then his son wanted to walk so I ran off. It was really cool to meet a fellow Trojan fan.
On that note, I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving and got to see friends and family. I’m back to school tomorrow, and although I’ll be happy to get back to the warm weather, I won’t be happy to get back to the studying and preparing for midterms! Oh well. Two more weeks and I’ll have to go back to snow!
Watching: Dead of Night
Listening to: Dario Martinelli Pandora station (he composed for movies like atonement)
Reading: Every Boy’s Got one (borrowed it from my roomie for the plane ride!)
☮♥ =) arianna
