The Monument Ave 10k has 40,000 participants. If only half of those people bring just one person, plus all of the race officials, volunteers, bands, vendors... You are starting to get the picture? A lot of people in a very small space?
I have a friend who lives about 1/2 a mile from the finish line in the opposite direction of the race. There just happens to be a parking garage and 2 lots within half a block of her apartment building. So I thought it was a great place to park, and it was. As Mom and I are walking towards the starting line, we walk past a garage that is almost empty. I tell Mom that we should have parked there. She said something along the lines of yeah. I said, 'Mom, it is the police station.' She said, 'Oh!' This was about halfway to the start line. On the way from the finish line back to my car, we are exhausted and barely moving, more like crawling... I tell Mom that we are coming up on the police station. She says, 'Hey, that was really rude of someone to put extra blocks in our path!' I don't know how long it took us to walk to the car, but it certainly was a lot longer than it took to walk to the race!
We needed to stop at a store and pick up bananas & batteries before going home. It was also very warm, so I asked Mom if she would like to stop for ice cream. She thought it was a fabulous idea, so I offered, 'Sweet Frog or Brusters?' She said, 'I don't care.' I responded with, 'Sweet Frog is right across the street from Wal-mart, but Brusters is all the way down by Charlie's.' She thought Wal-Mart sounded fabulous. So I pull into the Wal-Mart parking lot. My mother always parks at the garden center. Now if you have ever been in a Wal-Mart, you know the garden center and the bananas are nowhere near each other. As we are limping from my car to the door, Mom asks, 'Whose brilliant idea was this?' I point at her. She said, 'No it wasn't. I would have gone to Food Lion. Not as far to walk!' I said we still could. Next thing I know she is no longer next to me. I turn around to see her disappear on the other side of my car. As we are getting ready to leave Wal-Mart, we are discussing ice cream and Food Lion options, because we still need to do both, but neither of us want to walk. Going to Sweet Frog will involve attempting to find a parking spot in one of the busiest places in Richmond in the middle of a Saturday afternoon. We would end up walking halfway across a parking lot again! I suddenly remember there is a Food Lion around the corner from Charlie's and could be on the way to Brusters. We start driving!! As we hobble into Food Lion, get the bananas and go to check out. The cashiers ask us if we did the 10k. We were like, 'is it that obvious?' They said, 'You are just moving a lil slow.' Now for Southerners to think Northerners, let alone New Yorkers, to be moving a lil slow, you have probably figured out exactly how slow we are moving!
Note to self: the next time we do a 10k, shopping afterwards is not happening!!! Although, we certainly have enjoyed laughing about it since!!!
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