Michael: It Begins and Ends at the Car

Shoes slide in the mud
So we all come to a stop
And stood like cattle.

Monday, January 14, 2019

50 mile trail races have various facets that make them indelible experiences. Saturday’s San Diego 50, being my first 50 in over 5 years, had numerous highs and lows I’ll at least hang on to until I attempt a 100k next month.

The irony of spending over 8 hours on my feet was that two of the most memorable experiences of the day involved my rental car.

To begin with it was a cold, wet and rainy morning, so I decided not to leave the comfort of the car until the last possible moment. I had already tested a key hiding place the night before; I could slide the plastic rental I.D. tag attached to the keys under some plastic in the rear passenger wheel well. In practice that worked great, but in the nervousness of the cold dark race morning the keys fell. Not a problem if they would’ve dropped to the ground, but they didn’t. They fell somewhere near the shocks. I should’ve just left them and worried about it after the race, but that’s not the way I’m built.

 I did fish them out and just stick them on the ground under the rear passenger tire and made a mental note of where they were and what I was driving; a silver Elentra with a license plate that began with an 8.

 But that caused me to make it to the race start just in time to catch the back of the pack as they slowly slogged under the starting banner. This caused me to get off to a very slow start as I didn’t want to waste energy fighting through the crowd. In a way I felt it may have been a blessing as it took me at least a good mile to get clear enough of the back of the packers to begin a decent trot. Just breathe, relax, smile about it and enjoy a slow and long warm up.

At the end of the day when I was able to retrieve my drop bag and leave, I went to the silver Elentra and reached for the keys. But they weren’t there. What the hell? Why would any take the keys and not the car? The dude next to me thought maybe someone had spotted them and turned them into the race director. I thought maybe they just took my phone, so I looked inside and saw two coffee mugs. Confused I took a few steps back and looked around a bit. This car was a dark silver Elentra with a license plate that began with an 8. Two cars down was a light silver Elantra with a plate that began with an 8. Mystery solved and mind relieved. I was on my way to my sister’s for a very luxurious, long and well deserved hot shower.