Winter Beach Run - 2010
Have you ever had the dream of being out in public with no clothes on? I experienced that somewhat yesterday while running the 5 mile portion of the annual Winter Beach Run. I started off wearing sweatpants, as it was a little cool, but quickly warmed up. We started from 1st Avenue North in Jax Beach. The lifeguard truck followed us to 16th Avenue North and turned around to head back to the Lifeguard Station. I flagged them down and got Casey O'Donnell to pull my sweatpants off, while sitting on the back step of the truck. Joey Civello was driving. I gave them my wool cap too. I took off running again and got about 2 blocks when I realized I only had some black bikini briefs on beneath my sweatshirt.
Oh, well, too late now. I ran north just past Atlantic Boulevard and turned around for the 2 1/2 miles back. The wind was from the south and my underwear was pretty visible. No spectators or runners seemed to notice and I kept running. I figured some guys run in speedos, so that's what I pretended to be doing. I don't think any one ever noticed, to be honest. Just to be sure, as I passed the Jax Beach pier for the final 1/4 mile, I took off my sweatshirt and tied it around my waist, with the shirt part forward. I crossed the finish line at 56:14, my worst time ever, gave up my chip, and walked to the station, one block away. When I walked in the boat room I was given the business by the Boyz, who Casey had told what was up.
I retrieved my sweatpants, put them on, and walked over to the Seawalk Pavilion, the race staging area,to see what was going on. I snagged a slice of pizza, and talked to former Corps member, Harvey Warnock, who had also run the race. I walked back to the station and saw honorary member Susan Wallis, who ran the 10 mile race in 91 minutes. She's my hero. She competes in ironman events. I think I was the only one during the race who knew I was running it in my underwear. Good thing!
2/15/2010
