Belly button rings are downright dangerous

Note to self: belly-button rings aren't all they're cracked up to be.  They're downright dangerous. Especially ones with gems.  How are they dangerous?  They chafe ... which leads to raw skin  ... which isn't all that fun.  For the first 10 miles of my 20-miler, that belly-button ring hurt more than my legs!  Luckily, Mark is prepared for everything during a run, and he had some grease to stop the chafing.

I roll out of bed at 4 am, and wonder what the heck I'm thinking.  It's dark, it's cold, and I'm running 20 miles ... And then I notice that as I'm getting dressed, George is just going to sleep (makes me wonder even more what the heck I'm doing).  But that's ok, because I'm still half-asleep.  After roaming around the house and having a bagel and peanut butter, I pick up Mark and we head towards the DC-MD boundary on Beach Drive.  

We start the run at 5 am, and again, like all good training runs, it's uneventful.  We pass the zoo after 6 miles, go through one scary-loud tunnel, and shortly thereafter, I realize that I dropped one of my bottles.  Mark and I try to look around for it, but to no avail.  Despite the loss, we continue on, and a few miles later, we're passing the Kennedy Center and Thompson's Boathouse.  Ahh... familiar territory! Soon we're running by Georgetown, and as it approaches 6:30, we see the G'town Crew team heading down to the boathouse for a Saturday morning workout.  It takes a lot, but I resist the urge to scream out HOYA, hoping that I get a SAXA back.  I gather that it's too early, especially for college students :)

We continue on, picking up the pace a little bit as we start along the CCT.  Around Fletcher's boathouse, Mark's cell phone rings - It's Ken! He meets us around the DC boundary (mile 13ish of our 20 miler) on the CCT and makes then next few miles pass really quickly with his lively chatter.  Mark and I have only about 3 miles to go after Ken has to turn back in Bethesda.

When the GPS precisely says "20.00", we stop and take a walk break.  We're about 0.25 miles from the car, and we walk all the way back.   The watch reads 3:38 (about a 10:56 min/mile pace).  I have to admit that my legs felt like Jello, but I probably could have run another 10K (A marathon minus 20 miles = 10K), albeit it wouldn't have been very pretty!

I get home, and inspect the damage after a nice hot shower.  No less worse for the wear, with the exception of some sore muscles, and some chafing around my belly-button from the first 10 miles.  One of my stops that day ... A tattoo parlor for a new, plain gold ring :)  It's done the trick thus far!