Sweating with Friends

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One of my most favorite ways to spend time is to incorporate physical activity with social activity and I am truly blessed to be surrounded by people who feel much the same. People who enjoy running for hours on trails; swimming across Lake Tahoe; paddling into the waning dark of night on the Bay; biking across the GG Bridge and into the back roads of Marin County; spending 90 minutes in a 100+ degree room doing yoga; making up triathlons of biking, golfing and batting cages; going the extra 200 feet to say we climbed 10,000 feet on a bike ride; hiking to get fresh ski tracks; backpacking; slogging through mud on our bellies in the Muddy Buddy; the heart-pounding, make-you-drop exertion from an FGB or a Cindy or a Barbara in Crossfit; spin-and-din; waiting in the cold Pacific waters for a mediocre wave that somehow tosses all of anyway; tennis; hula-hooping.

I could go on and on. Often these activities are followed by laughs and recounted stories over meals, drinks, beers on a patio somewhere, coffee, pedicures, shopping at Sports Basement.

I got to thinking about all of this good fortune following Sunday's Run for 41! In honor of our friend Cheyenne's 41st birthday, Dana organized fun runs of 4.1 and 8.2. All the race numbers were derivations of 4 and 1 (yes, there were race numbers - we are nothing if not serious about our fun runs), the birthday girl was given streamers for her ponytail, the registration forms solicited birthday advice, the course was marked with eco-friendly flour and the aid station was stacked with cupcakes and cheetos. Lining up was a legion of Ironman and marathon finishers, Death Ride and 100-mile-run finishers, cyclocross champions, runners coming back from injuries and illnesses and one current "injured reserve". It was a stacked field and though competitive in each of our events, it was no stretch to run at a leisurely pace, stop to take pictures and chat at the turnarounds, stop to drink water and chat at the 2 mile aid stops, indeed, stop wherever the mood struck. We each finished to the enthusiastic applause of a roaring dozen or so fellow racers and received a medal with Cheyenne's picture on the front. Finisher's cupcakes, anyone?


And then it was off to brunch.
Does a birthday get off to any better start than that?!

Thank you to everyone I've had the pleasure of sweating and shivering alongside these many, many years; perhaps complaining, maybe whining, sometimes reflecting, but hopefully generally laughing, yelling or smiling and always, ALWAYS, finishing and thinking, that was totally awesome.

And a big happy birthday to you, Cheyenne!

Comments

Jessica said…
I love sweating with friends! And I love that I get to be your partner in crime in so many of those fun-filled socio-athletic activities! When will the nights get longer so we can get back out there for Tuesday night paddles? In the meantime, I think another round of tennis is in order! And I think a brick of the non-conventional variety (bike-golf-batting practice) is in order very, very soon!

Here's to the spring! And some spring skiing, too!
5:22 PM
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