Wake up. Call?

I hate the idea of a metaphorical wake-up call, but on Sunday, April 30 in a near Noah-summoning downpour, I got one. And how.

I knew that I wake up daily with a tight, painful reminder, centered behind my knee cap that I can't run. But, eleven months into a scrapbook filled with doctor bills, blurry photo copies of physical therapy exercises (there-band, anyone), MRI films (and CD's), and broken dreams, I had started to forget why I was still trying to get through this.

Sunday changed all that.

I volunteered at the Universal Sole Lakefront 10 (check the links on the right, Universal Sole is there). I want to explain the race before I get into the April 30 washout (well, drenching is probably more accurate, my washout came long ago).

Lakefront 10 is a 10 mile road race along Chicago's beautiful lakefront. Other 10 mile races of the same name have rambled along the lakefront over the years. The wonderful folks at Universal Sole revived the moribund race and repopulated the running community's collective memories with the joy of this race at what some have called the "perfect distance."

Perfect distance you ask? [ten miles requires endurance, speed, cunning and more than a working knowledge of race tactics. You can make mistakes early in a ten miler that can cost you the race, but it is just long enough that you can use your smarts to get back in the game, if you have the strength and the heart.

Lakefront 10 starts and finishes near the bump known as Cricket Hill, sometimes called Montrose Hill, it is located between Montrose Harbor and Montrose Beach. What a great Chicago spot. I could devote a full volume to the discussion of all that Montrose has to offer, not least of which Magic Hedge, Chicago Wilderness Magazine says this:

"The Magic Hedge is a small area of trees, shrubs and grasses on a small hill at sandy, wind-swept Montrose Point on the Lake Michigan shoreline along Chicago's north side. In the 1950s and 1960s, when the Army operated a NIKE base here, the Hedge grew up along the base's border. The base was dismantled around 1970, but the Hedge remained."

http://chicagowildernessmag.org/issues/spring1998/IWmagichedge.html

Back to my story:

On Sunday, I outfitted myself in man-made fabrics. I was ensconced in Gore-Tex, cool max, techwick, fleece, and all manner of spun polyester, all the fight the rain. Natural fibers (read cotton, wool, etc.) like to hold water.

I arrived at Foster Beach, near the Mile 1 marker, about one hour before the race started. Without a course map, my role was to ensure that runners made a correct turn from Simonds Drive onto the running path that hugs the Foster Beach beach house. I alternately shuffled around trying to figure out just where to place the orange cones and sat in my car listening to Death Cab for Cutie.

Finally, about 10 minutes before the race, I plotted a turn with the cones only to have race director and Universal Sole proprietor Paul Peters drive by in a Chicago Police car and hang is head out the window into the rain and say "just perfect."

It really was a great corner I had formed. The tangent (racers know, runners and joggers may not) required running through a puddle of unknown depth, based on those who traversed it, I suspect it was 5-6 inches deep. A sock soaker if you hit it wrong -- wet sock at Mile 1 makes for a long day.

8:00 A.M. - Race start comes quietly to Mile 1. About four minutes later, I hear a Chicago Police car sound its horn, and through the mist I see its flashing lights and then, after a moment, a cadre of bicyclists leading the runners. It was go time for my corner.

I stood in position as a trio of slender Kenyan runners galloped Gazelle-like through my puddle. The fast guys know how to shorten a course. They glided effortlessly across the water, barely wetting a toe. Next came a group of fast runners who also paraded through the puddle to my serenade of "nice job, way to go, looking good." This was a refrain I would repeat for about 12 or so minutes as the entire race snaked past.

As runners of my former ability (I once finished this race 30/1550 and 4th in my age group, you can look it up or just click here http://www.universalsole.com/results/lakefront10/lf10results2004.html) zoomed past, it suddenly hit me I HAVEN'T RUN IN NEARLY ELEVEN MONTHS! I say it so casually all the time, and usually people are more shocked hearing it than I am saying it. But here it was, right in face, a sweating, heavy breathing reminder of what I lost.

Mind you, I haven't forgotten entirely, but my focus has drifted. Each time I climb on my bike or obsessively look for one more bike part at the best price, I steal focus from my real mission - to return to running form and break 3 hours in the marathon. So now what do I do?

Standing at the finishing chute 45-50 minutes later, I saw my doctor, the great Dr. Nicola. We talked about what our goals were for my running. He has been with me on this injury since day one. I have seen him at his clinic, button-holed him at cocktail parties, and held him shivering (him more than me) at the end of yesterday's race, all with the same theme: how do we get me running again.

Well, the answer isn't available yet, but I am awake now and ready to work for it again. I should have been out there yesterday, running, running fast, doing something I love. A great quote I read from someone on the professional cycling team, Team CSC, wasn't something like "the rain never falls on us." As I runner, when I am out there, I know just what they mean.

Somebody know how to get me running? Let me know.