Monday, July 20, 2009

Thwarted

I felt betrayed. The display on the bike rack read, "Temporarily closed for system servicing. Please come back later."

I didn't have "later." The monthly noontime Tidal Basin 3K Run, held the third Wednesday of every month, was going to start in 10 minutes. And it was two miles away.

I wasn't going to make it. This was going to be only the tenth one that I have missed in the last hundred months.

I have a new system for attending this run which is two and a half miles from my work, to cut down the time I am away from the office when it is held. I used to jog there, run the race, and jog back. It was time consuming.

Lately I have been jogging over to Judiciary Square and picking up a SmartBike (100 bikes scattered about the city at 10 bike racks that members can use for free anytime during the day). Then I bicycle the rest of the way, and bicycle back after the race. It saves a lot of time. I have come to depend upon this method of getting there, and now leave my office for the race at a quarter to noon instead of at 11:30.

But the SmartBike.DC system was down, and I was stuck. I couldn't get a bike out of the locked rack, although there were seven candy-colored beauties there tantalizing me. Just when you start to count on something . . . . .

Runners are resilient though, right? I figured out a 3K route in my head that travelled up Capitol Hill for a little hillwork thrown in and took off at noon for a virtual 3K race. I wound up 14:54 (8:02) later at Union Station where I bought lunch and walked with it the two blocks back to my office, arriving back at work at 12:20.

Later when I plotted out the route I had run on g-maps, I saw it was a little short of 3K, 1.8 miles instead of 1.86 miles. But the real race doesn't have a big hill like Capitol Hill in it.

7 comments:

Jade Lady said...

There's always more than one way to get your race in! Good for you - you are always inspiring! Have a great week!

ShirleyPerly said...

Bummer about the bike. Do they have a website or something that you can check to see if the system is working ahead of time?

Whatever, way to get it done on your own!

A Plain Observer said...

you managed to get a work out/race in on your own! that is great

Christie said...

Darn, that sucks. But at least you got out and did your own thing.

DawnB said...

nice way to improvise Peter!!thats' why we are know as runners.

Sunshine said...

Stupid Smartbikes; smart Peter. Run, Peter, Run!

RuninDC said...

Great story. Nice job