Brooks Running Camp Day 1

Today could have been much more awesome than it was... I was headed to Brooks Inspire Daily Running Camp '09. Since it was near Mt. Ranier and it would have taken me longer to drive to Portland, hop on a plane, fly to Seattle... you get the picture, I deigned to drive. It was supposed to be so easy. Grab running shoes, drive car up I-5 to Seattle, and hang out at Brooks Running headquarters.

Alas, I opened my eyes this morning... or more correctly, I opened one eye this morning. The other was swollen up almost closed. It was 5:45 am. I was meant to go to work for one hour and then hit the road in time for a lunchtime arrival. Instead I spent the next four hours sitting on my hands until the urgent care opened at 8:00 am, finally opting for a quick prescription for some powerful antihistamines from my doctor. But then the pharmacy didn't open until 9:00 am, and OF COURSE it takes 15 minutes to actually fill the prescription once they get it off the fax machine. Dude.

This has happened to me one other time before... nine years ago, when whatever IT is hit both eyes at the same time. But, I still wasn't sure I could drive with one eye. However, nothing was keeping me away from running camp. I have been looking forward to it for months (two to be exact)! I decided to hit the road one-eyed and just see how it went.

It went fine, but now I was so late! I was meant to be at Brooks HQ North of Seattle by 1:00 pm and I was worried about holding up (or missing) the group shuttle to Crystal Mountain. Worse, I couldn't figure who to call to tell them what had happened (yikes). So, I went straight to the resort which meant that I missed seeing all the cool production lines, the hall of fame, meeting Karl and Carl (see video below... my favorite one, but there are a ton others), and hanging with other IDers along the beautiful drive through the Mt. Ranier wilderness. Very sad....

Now I am just waiting for everybody to get here... but in the meantime I took a little "walk" to the top of Crystal Mountain. It was less of a walk up/down, than a climb up/scree-slide down. And I didn't make it all the way to the top because it was very muddy and snowy and menacing-cloudy. I'm sure I'll have plenty more opportunities (me thinks).... oh, hope they get here soon!