March 6

Picking up my race materials for the Gate River Run today felt somewhat shameful. There were tables and tables of race bibs being handed out – 18,000 of them – and my bib number is 18223. The tables only went up to 18000, so when I asked where the higher numbers were, the woman was like, “Oh, you want the 5K table. It’s over there.” And she pointed to a lonely table all on its own in a dusty corner (ok ok the corner wasn’t dusty). It had like 15 bibs on it (ok ok it was more than 15). I didn’t even get the same shirt as everyone else, and this one is crazy ugly. But… so it is. I will make the most of it. I did get a box of cous cous in my race bag. That’s exciting.