Sometimes you have to to do things just to prove to yourself that you can do it.  No, I am not talking about the half marathon that I ran recently.  I knew I could run the 13.1 miles.  What I didn’t know is that I could run them without listening to music.   I’m usually plugged in, and I take my playlist seriously (“The Sweatiest Music”).

I boarded the race shuttle early that morning with all necessary gear — bib number, timing chip, iPod….but no headphones.  If you had supersonic hearing, you would have heard a thunderous “F**K!!!” emanating from my head when I discovered it.  I’ve done short runs without music, and it’s fine, but a two hour run?  When the momentary sense of panic wore off, I resigned myself to a quiet run and figured that it could be worse.

This being the “Rock n Roll” marathon, bands were stationed along the route, and that was nice, but not the same.  It got me thinking though — if I were the event organizer, I would station a big-name band somewhere along the route.  How funny would it be to see people really surprised?  Maybe the serious runners would not notice, and run on by.  Me, though — I love running, but not enough to avoid stopping and watching one of my favorite bands.

The upside of the quiet run was that I got to hear the conversations of the people running near me.  There were a lot of exchanges that I started calling “No Man Left Behind”, all going something like this:

“You go on without me; this is ridiculous, I can’t keep up”
“No.  No!!  We agreed to do this together, I’m not leaving you!”

The other common theme – spousal bickering: “Well!  If you don’t want to listen to me talk, then don’t run by me!  Whatever!!”   (I could relate to that poor guy.  I didn’t want to run by his wife, either.)

After the finish, there was a little post-race concert with NW mid-90’s darling, Everclear.   Bar Exam memories aside,  (“Heroin Girl, or Heroine Girl?”), it was fun to reflect on how much had changed since the last time I saw them, that summer so long ago (especially the fact that this time, I had two kids with me).   They didn’t sound great, and lead singer Art Alexakis is the only original member, but it was entertaining all the same.

I swear to you on Eddie Vedder that I am not exaggerating this next part.  It is hilarious yet troubling, and if it’s any indication of what’s to come during her teenage years, her dad and I are in for quite a ride.

My daughter decided that she wanted the lead singer to see her rocking out.  My husband held her up and she fist-pumped during the songs, waving at Art Alexakis and trying to get him to point to her.  “Closer!” she said, so she and I crept closer to the stage, leaving the men behind (familiar territory…. although normally my partners in crime are my sisters).   When the show ended, Art knelt down at the edge of the stage and shook hands with those who could reach him.

We were a few rows back, so he waved to my daughter and said “Hi sweetie, how are you?”   She waved back, answered “Good!”, and announced to me that she was ready to leave.  The lead singer had now been informed that she was there, and her work was done.