The Rest of the Story

I know, I promised I would tell the rest of the story and two weeks have already past.

About 2 weeks before the race, I noticed a small lump in my bottom left eye lid. It continued to grow and the right eye got one too. Being the research queen that I am, I got online to figure out my symptoms and decided I had 2 styes. I followed the advice of warm compresses and cleanings 4-5 times a day, but they wouldn't go away and the left one was getting out of control. After a week or so, it was clear I had to go see a doc. The left one was so big that my vision was blurry and my face hurt down into my cheeks. Makeup was out of the question. I looked like I had been in a hell of a fight. Anyway, I finally get into the clinic (claiming vision problems gets you in pretty quick.) The doctor, who had the personality of a rock said that they probably needed to be lanced! You know the saying, I would rather poke a needle in my eye? Well, here was my chance! Yikes!

I still couldn't get in to see an opthamologist and have the procedure before the marathon, so I ran with blurry vision and a big honking goiter-looking thing growing from my eye. My plan was to run in sunglasses so I didn't scare anyone. Too bad it was cloudy and I would have just looked stupid in sunglasses. We will be doing some photoshop to those race photos! I did have them lanced Monday morning. By the way, it was one of the worst things I have endured.

Then...

Sunday morning of the marathon, Pete and I drove into Virginia Beach plenty early enough to find parking. We were competing for spaces with the half marathon people who had an earlier start than us. Every side street was full, so we drove around looking for open parking lots. Most business at the beach have signs forbidding parking unless you are customers, with threats to tow. We decided to stop at the Harris Teeter for a last bathroom opportunity and some provisions for the ride home in case they ran out of food. As soon as we got out of the truck, an employee came up to us and asked if we were running in the race? I guess our tights and numbers gave us away.

Him: You can't park the truck there.
Me: Uh, can I buy a banana?
Him: Sure, but you can't leave your truck here when your done.
Me: Maybe, I'll buy my banana somewhere else too. Sheese.

We did use the bathroom, but I didn't buy my banana cause I didn't want to give them business. So, off we go to find a parking spot. Now we see parking lots filling up, so we jump when we see an open spot and park. Yeah! I am sure you can tell where this is going. Everyone in this lot and others were runners. It is Sunday morning and we are in the lot of an evening bar. Point is that it is closed and not opening for many hours, but there is a sign forbidding parking. I feel confident we are fine. I have traveled many times to race and local businesses and police have always supported runners by overlooking parking violations. Marathons are routinely run on Sundays mornings so that streets can be closed and parking is available (with the exception of church parking lots).

So, after I finish the race, the plan is that I will meet Pete back at the truck. I can change clothes, eat something and hydrate. I was so cold and wet and emotional when I finished. I gimped back the several blocks to the truck only the lot was empty. OK, I am emotional and very tired. Maybe I'm not in the right place. It happens. I don't always pay attention to where I am or where we park. I was focused on the race, not the parking lot. So, I look around. Yep, that's the 7-11, that's the storefront we walked past, and that's the bar. Where is the the truck? I was completely calm, figuring that I was just not seeing things right. Maybe I was delusional. 26 miles is a really long way. I close my eyes. I open my eyes. Nope, no truck. Then I see a tow truck hooking up to a car in a neighboring lot. Now, I get it... Are you f*%#^& kidding me!?

What now? I don't know when Pete will finish. Do I sit in the spot that the truck was in? I am so cold and wet. Do I go back to the finish and hope that I didn't miss him? My cell phone, IDs and purse are all in the truck. I decided to go to the beer tent where it will be warm and eventually he will go through this same process and make the same decision and find me in the beer tent. So I walk again.

I waited in the beer tent and finally, he walked in with a big grin on his face. OK, I'm thinking he clearly didn't go to where the truck is supposed to be. I congratulate him, ask his time, and generally whoo hoo him. Then, I say, "let's get you a beer."

So, I tell him that the truck is not there and we walk back to the lot to get the number of the tow company that took the truck. Then, we walked 5 miles to the lot, only to be told they don't take credit cards and I don't have $125 in cash on me. So, we walked another 1/2 mile to an ATM and back to finally get the truck out of hock. We figure we covered about 31+ miles that day. I kept telling Pete, it would make a great story.

It is unfortunate that the business owners of Virginia Beach were not supportive of the race. Lots of cars were towed that day, which will affect the participation in the marathon weekend. Recently, I read an article that said that marathons and other large races are becoming the number 1 fundraiser for cities. They draw a lot of people who spend a lot of money. This is off season at the beach and you would think these business would be happy to have people at the beach. We were parked at an establishment that was closed. Even Harris Teeter can afford to offer a back row of parking. Oh well, I intend to follow up with the race director and depending on that feedback, the city council.