RIP

Vicious

I ran in Fredericksburg on Saturday morning. 15 miles. I did 15 the week before, and I was a lot more tired at the end of this one, so I looked at the time to compare. It was 1:48:30. Only marginally faster than the week before with Graham. But it had rained a little during the run and was now very humid, and the watch was cutting my wrist, as it has done in the past sometimes. So I took it off and I put it on the right side of the hood of my car and then sat down in the grass to stretch. "You'll remember it," I thought.

Fast forward an hour later, I'm at KC's parents' house packing up our bags. I can't find my watch. I didn't think I'd put it on the counter since it would be so dirty. I went to check the car. Not there. I knew where it was. I remembered leaving it on the side of the car. Shit. I hope it is on the side of the road right there. It is Mary Washington graduation and First Communion at the Catholic Church. There are thousands of people walking by. Someone is going to steal it!

KC and I drove back to Hanover and pulled over on the side of the road to look for it. No luck. She walked down Daniel Street, looking on the right side of the road, while I moved my car since it wasn't exactly parked legally. When I got to the intersection with William Street, First Communion was getting out and the streets were packed. I knew it wasn't going to be there... no way someone didn't pick up walking by. Hell, Bob MacDonald has one he found on the side of the road in the battlefield!

We figured that this would have been the first time I'd had any momentum to knock if off of the car, so KC and I traded places. She drove while I walked down William. As I crossed the street, I saw it. Sitting in the middle of the road. Destroyed. My last two runs with it will go unrecorded. 

I started this blog with that watch when KC gave it to me for my birthday in 2010. I made fun of people using it before and I continue to do so now, but I am happy to say that it did change my running for the better. I used to have some idea about how fast I was running on most of my maintenance runs... and that idea was completely wrong. I've gotten over the need to hit every run on a specific number that ends in .00 and have gotten back to listening to my body, but the watch does give me a lot of other data that I like. And I know people complain about the satellites not being accurate, and they're right too. Tim and I, or Pat and I, have done countless long runs side by side for hours wearing the EXACT same watch, starting together, and been off distances by up to a 10th of a mile over 20 miles. But I loved it. I loved looking at the data, I love programming workouts into it, and I miss it terribly. 

So many thanks to KC for buying it for me three years ago, and many thanks to my BFF Greg for hooking me up with a new one as soon as possible, before I spiral into an insurmountable pit of despair.

Rest In Pieces

How dramatic.