The Boys (and Girls) are Back in Town - Part Trois

When Donna’s shorts went missing in the running action, I had to mentally regroup, especially since I had to come to the realization that George Clooney hadn’t asked me to the Academy Awards. He did stop, but it was only to ask me for directions to the Manchester Airport. Being the wonderful woman I am, I gave him directions to Logan instead.

I was a tad disappointed that I had to let Donna go. I thought I was in better shape; however, I found that biking 25 miles a day didn't translate to running. When you actually did the translation via Babel Fish, it was “WTF?!?!”

I had discovered that muscle family-wise running and biking were second cousins two times removed. By the way, could someone please explain “hem and haw” and that whole familial “removed” concept to me. And, Brenda, I still need to also know why there are dark clouds! Okay, now that I have my self-improvement out of the way, we can continue.

As I ran along, it seemed that everyone was passing me; I knew then that I was giving in to my self-defeat demons, especially since I was running on my own. I thought back to last year’s race and the race the year before that; I had run with Brenda in ’08, and I had run with Amrit in ’09. Even when you’re running alone, thinking about your friends who are running makes you want to run to the finish line that much faster.

So, as “Night Train” blared on, I kept thinking about my friends. I wondered if John beat Tom, because they had a bet between them; I wondered how Brenda and Jeff were doing, because they both hadn’t been running as much as they used to. And, I especially wondered about Amrit, because even though I could run faster than her, I felt a bit lost on the running course without her.

When I saw the mass of runners taking a left turn up the course’s steep hill, I said, “Shit!” I had missed all the mile markers. Not that I was timing or pacing myself, but it would have been nice to know where I was in this uncharted journey.

I loved this race; however, the finish was a steep uphill followed by 200 yards of flat road to the finish line. As I pushed myself, just like in 1978, some tow-headed 12-year-old went sprinting past me up the hill. I mumbled “Bastard!” but I secretly wanted to pat the kid on the head and say, “Great job! And, just say No to drugs, alcohol, piercings, tattoos, Eminem, Justin Bieber, and Buicks!”

When I finally got up the hill, I gave it my all, which was pretty much nothing, to make it across the finish line. When I staggered past it, I saw Tom. And, we compared notes, though being oxygen deprived, I can’t remember what our notes were!

When Amrit crossed the line, she came up to me. We walked back into the park together to collect our race prize, a not-too-small and not-too-big mug. We compared notes, and I can’t remember what they were, other than the general feeling which was “It’s good to be alive and be here together.”

After we (the riders of Tom’s bus) met at the company banner, we went back to Tom’s car to grab our clothes. The men changed their shirts at the car. The gals opted to bring their bags and change in the women’s room at the after-race venue where we would drink beer and eat food.

While Brenda, Amrit, and I changed in the women’s room, I discovered that I had forgotten my jeans due to giving a damn. I said, “Shit!” Brenda asked from the adjacent stall, “Did you forget underwear?” I said, “No. I forgot my pants!”

Fortunately though, that’s why the Great Cat Goddess invented perfume. I had a clean t-shirt, I had clean underwear, and I had perfume. Spritz, spritz!

We ventured out of the women’s room and sat down at our table. Our team occupied another table nearby, and they were already in good spirits. It didn’t seem to matter who knew who or who ran what time, everyone was dancing in the moonlight. (This is also one of my favorite songs.)

Forty-five minutes later, a few people around a cell phone yelled. We all looked and wondered what the commotion was about. Our team had placed FIRST in the co-ed division.

I can’t really describe the emotion. All of us, those that knew each other, and those that didn’t, were ecstatic. It didn’t matter where we worked, what we worked on, or how we worked it, we were one happy team.

It was one of the best feelings I’ve had in a long time. We were slightly derailed when a team told us that their results hadn’t been tabulated. As of yesterday, it appeared we were still the winners.

Given what we and our company had been through in the last two years, I think winning that night gave us something that stock options or job security couldn’t. We, disjointed as we were, came together and we rocked no matter where we all were from 9-5. We were a great team, even if the universe had made us parts of other teams especially from 9-5; and what the Great Cat Goddess had joined, let no corporation put asunder. ♥

P.S. When I was driving home after the race, I heard this song. I had all the windows and the sunroof open as I drove down Route 495 South. I turned it up loud, because it felt like, it was a fitting theme for our win and for our team.