(Un)expected (un)fitness January 14
3:10 PM. Look out window. Decide it’s sunny. Feeling ambitious, ask Terri if she’s up for tennis. Enthusiastic response. Rusty has little choice but to join.
6:25 PM. First time outside since morning. It is not sunny anymore. It is not as warm as I’d envisioned it being. Perhaps I just want to play Civ IV instead?
6:27 PM. Get text from Rusty. ‘U 2 R crazy, too cold for tennis’. Text back in agreement. No exercise for me, thanks.
6:31 PM. Exit subway with CV. Decide that I have enough energy to climb the metro escalator (normally I ride like the lazy herd animal I am).
6:33 PM. At east side Cleveland Park metro exit, discover our H-line bus is already at the corner of Conn Ave and Porter. We are boned. Notice that the light just flipped, indicating to us, in the lot at the gas station, that we have 54 seconds before our bus proceeds. Informing CV of this, he says “I can make it.”
“You wanna run?”
“If you can keep up.”
I took off without hesitation. If I wasn’t playing tennis I might as well get something done tonight. It’s all downhill, so without much effort I had built considerable momentum and spent the second half of the sprint just trying to manage my undeniable gravity, working as hard as I could to ensure I did not take what would surely have been an epic tumble down Porter. After cruising to an easy victory (over both bus and CV) I slowed up to catch my breath while CV caught up, blaming his rucksack for his second-place finish.
My lungs are still kind of searing a good thirty minutes later. I took the bus and walked the half block home and talked on the phone (turns out there are no lights at the courts in question anyway, says Terri). Still, my lungs ache and I’m coughing infrequently. Damn you, body! Why do you betray me!? Is it because I betray you!? C’mon, body, don’t be a bitch!
I’m seeing here that this run was probably no more than 200 yards. ‘Pathetic’, you’re probably thinking, and I’d be inclined to agree. It was nice, though, that as we boarded the bus driver noted “Ya’ll are pretty fast.”
Caseus Velox Jan 14
My bag’s strap became unbuckled, and I had to stop to make sure I didn’t drop anything.
Ian Jan 14
Chris lost his ipod in a similar sprint last week.
Terri Jan 15
Next time, Barney.