epic

July 27th, 2009

a lot of people don’t understand why i label a lot of things as “epic.” epic fried chicken, epic evening, epic story, you name it. it’s a gaming term i extracted from playing World of Warcraft, where the absolute best weapons and equipment were referred to as “epics,” and often bastardized as “epicz.”

so what constitutes an “epic weekend?” despite its subjective nature, it must have a measure of success. in my case, finishing chapters in a book. getting a birthday celebrant drunk. having more than 6 cups of coffee in one sitting. getting a number. having a steak. running a marathon.

you heard me.

i’ll start a couple weeks back. “aqua lad” dave had a birthday celebration at bruno’s, which for one reason or another has become a popular party destination for the ripple effect dragon boat team. it got… raucous at times. with the right people, though, i’ll gladly dip back into that “azn clubbing” mode, if only for a night.

the next day i visited my old prom date’s booth at the renegade craft fair. it was an interesting hand-made world, where everyone wears stockings despite the hot weather, everyone charges $8 for a greeting card and you will be torn asunder if you mention the word “Hallmark” at any point. there was some really cool stuff, i’ll admit, but maybe there was just way too much of it for me to absorb.

we had a new toy for my niece claire that week, so we dropped by and she had her first exposure to a jack-in-the-box. while she wasn’t exactly scared shitless, she was visibly surprised. but just because you know what’s coming doesn’t make it any less terrifying. kind of like eating balut.

later in the week, my brother brian and his coworkers, along with some high school friends and some truly disposable friends of theirs, made their way to EZ5 for his last happy hour before he heads to grad school. i got to know the people of his office, catch up with a few old friends, get in the usual ribbing and assert myself, once again, as something besides “brian’s brother.”

we followed it up at RN74 the next day, after which i picked up two Cthulhu mythos books and the latest in the Bourne Identity series, of which I intended to start that weekend.

and then came the big surprise. my sister-in-law signed me up for the san francisco marathon. apparently her friend, the venerable Tim, had to drop out at the last minute. had i been training? no. was i ready? who knows. was i gonna do it? you fucking bet.

my reasons for coming to this decision were as follows: i wanted to get back into running eventually, as i had been prior to my participation in the 2007 Bay to Breakers. i wanted to gain some more respect from my more athletic friends who are a little bit elitist when it comes to exercise and amateur sports. and, of course, i wanted another great story to tell.

you know me. yeah you do.

we went to the expo to pick up our race kits, saw a bunch of weird crap, from awkwardly named clothing to crying simulations, then there i was, before sunrise the next day.

my wave departed at 6:17am, and off i went. since i hadn’t run in a while, i didn’t think i’d last long. but the first mile came, then the next, and the next, and soon i was crossing the golden gate bridge into marin county. going back across, i ran into a few friends of mine, and i began to believe.

i ran into some technical difficulties immediately after the half, i blame my damned flat feet, but some candy-flavored Advil made it better eventually. On and on it went, despite the slow pace, and eventually I made it back, though too late to actually register a time since they were breaking it all down.

hell, I don’t think 26.2 miles in 6.6 hours is bad for someone that hasn’t run more than a mile in over two years.

but i’ll take it. just another epic weekend.

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