Must Hit Rave Runs!!

You know how Runner’s World has their whole Rave Run page? Well, I’m gonna do my own take on that one:

*X-Mas day, Roseville, CA (20-something early). Celebrate this glorious holiday (if you don’t celebrate Christmas that’s okay too and just go out and run, the nice thing is that the streets are usually pretty vacant, what with most of the other people in home or at church) with a relaxing run into gale force winds. Good thing the roads are ghost town-esque because we saw you literally being blown into the street by that last windburst. Also good that the stoplights are giving you the all clear signal because with that tailwind there was no way of stopping before being hucked into the roadway. Enjoy this run with your mom, too bad she’s not fat enough for you to draft off of.

*Sizzling scorching track of he!!, Bella Vista, CA (20-whatever). You can see the steam radiating off of the track, don’t look now but I think I just saw a bug try and cross through lane one but fried before making it the full way. You really don’t want to know the actual temperature, once it’s over 110 it’s safe to say ignorance is bliss. 800 repeats, say what? Oh, thank you coach for having the forethought to bring some gallons of water to pour over our heads between intervals.

* Some track meet, North Carolina, June-ish. Let’s hold a really fun meet back where we have this glorious thing called humidity. Let’s also bear in mind that this state gets crazy weather moody and will spontaneously burst into insane stormage during hot, humid, sticky, stankyness. Gotta love it when you’ve warmed up for your race, oh, then due to lightening and all that the race gets delayed. That’s okay, take a minute to enjoy the fireworks at this beautiful locale. Time to warm-up again, now we’re on the starting line…and…psyche!! Look, more lightening…cool stuff, we’ll just push this little race thing off a wee bit more. Thank you NC. Perhaps a stop at Friendly’s to pass the time? Third times’ a charm though and you’ll get that race in before midnight, don’t worry.

*Park City, Utah, Summer. Go to this swanky getaway in the offseason when most of the area is vacant. You’ll pretty much have the run of the roost…heck, even the air molecules are out of town. This one takes the cake though only if you suddenly have to get an emergency appendectomy. Don’t you worry your pretty little head because you’ll be back and running again soon. A day and a half later and take it to the streets, that funny little jiggly feeling in your gut is sorta trippy, kind of like phantom-appendix syndrome. (PS-wanted to run the next day but coach says no…sneaking out is a bit though to do when the only people in the immediate area are you, your runner buddies, and the hotel staff.)

*Podunk Town, CO, Roadtripping, Summer. We all love a grand expedition, exploring new areas, getting lost maybe on purpose to discover hidden, hole in the wall places. Hey, did you just spot that Dairy King, are you kidding me?! But the only way to really have a blast roadtripping is when you’re with a crazy aunt who totally doesn’t ‘get’ the whole running thing at all. “Just don’t run.” Response or explanation is futile but do try to be as accommodating as possible, “I am fine just running on the side of the road. Just pull over, let me off, and I’ll go.” (Side note, if you’re a minor your elders are naturally a little hesitant to let you wander off alone, hence the roadside idea, not a very busy road, you can even drive alongside and clock me if you want!) Although who wants to make things easy? To get the full experience of Podunk your aunt wants to find the BEST spot for you to run, if you’re jyping time out of her trip to let you run, then she’s apparently heck-bent on finding the most exciting place to do it. Cut to an hour later when she’s the one who has deemed no other place worthy, though you’ve suggested plenty, and now she’s cussing you out. Funny how in the end that run is done on the side of the road. Do come back and visit again soon!

*Walker Road, Beaverton, Oregon. Is that the sun I see? Holy smokes that’s a rare sighting, so you better get out there and enjoy it! Strap on that watch and get to moving. Cruising along, what really makes this run a highlight is…BAM…gotta get slammed by a car. Don’t look now but your tib and fib are waving hello!

Bwahaha…if you can’t laugh about something then you are at the wrong blog. Hope you enjoyed my little rendition there. We all have those funny runs that stick out in our mind for one reason or the other. Either done in horrible conditions or just the backstory makes them insanely hilarious…not at the time of course, but looking back on them.

Now, I’m a weather weenie and haven’t experienced anything too bad in the freezing, snowy conditions department, but I’ve got the hot and smoggy ones…who needs ‘good’ air quality anyways?! I’d love to hear some stories from peeps who nearly lost a foot or nose from frost bite or something.

1) Would you rather run/workout in crazy hot conditions or freezing frigid ones?

My answer always seems to change depending on whatever I’m currently in. The grass is always greener, right?

2) Ever had something thrown at you during a run?

I’ve gotten a half filled water bottle that hurt like a mofo. But I’ve heard of way worst things happening so I know I’ve gotten off easy on that. My mom once got a baby pumpkin chucked at her on Halloween; it was night, she didn’t see it coming, and it hit her right in the throat, knocked the wind out of her pretty bad.

3) Share a Rave Run of your own! (PS-don’t worry, in another post I’m going to do a more serious one about runs that were genuinely special at the time or big highlights, but for now let’s keep it sarcastic, okay?!! Haha)