Simply Can't Wait for the Gate

I feel like a kid counting down the days to Christmas, I'm so excited for this big race on Saturday. It was the last thought I had before I fell asleep and the first when I woke this morning. In spite of all my excitement, weather and airlines may prevent me from taking part in this awesome event.

Yesterday I had my last pre-race run. After an hour on the treadmill at a moderate to quick (for me) pace, I was sweaty and shower-ready. Back in my room, I had stripped down to the socks when my phone rang. It was the automated line from Delta airlines with a courtesy call informing me that my connecting flight from Cincinnati to JAX, some 26 hours away, had already been cancelled. The recording reassured me that they had a new itinerary for me departing from Harrisburg, PA on Saturday morning. Oh, no they didn't!

I called the medallion desk, hoping that my credentials as a frequent flier could undo this mess. Surely, when they discovered it was moi being inconvenienced they'd do whatever necessary to make the flight happen, even if it required moving the front that was causing the storm. To no avail. My trusty airline representative repeatedly thanked me for my business and my loyalty but told me there would be no Gate River Run 2008.

In a desperate search for options I called the travel agency that books the SDE flights. God bless Mary Ellen. While she confirmed that there wasn't another way out of Harrisburg, she did notice that Baltimore airport is within 100 miles. She nabbed me a seat on a Southwest flight direct from BWI to JAX, and reserved me a car at the nearby Harrisburg airport.

My fingers are crossed. If Mary Ellen's plan works and I zip out at the end of my seminar I can fly(in my rented car) through the winter weather and arrive in Baltimore to grab that flight home. Take a couple of winks and then wake early to line up for the most fun I can possibly have while exercising on a Saturday morning. It's a lot of trouble and expense to make sure I'm there to run this race.

I can't quite articulate why I do this - go to so much trouble to run in a race when I'm likely to place dead last. Maybe all this running has done something to my brain!