Eat Drink Run Woman

As many of you know, I live within a couple blocks of a very popular running trail/lake in Seattle — Greenlake.  (It’s officially “Green Lake” but I’ve always said it as one word).  In fact, in my 19 years as a Seattleite, I’ve always lived in the Greenlake neighborhood.  My first rented house was less than 1/2 mile away, my second apartment was four blocks away, and now I’m two blocks away.  (If I keep this up I may someday move onto Duck Island).

Naturally, my darling and I run Greenlake — a lot.  It truly is a fabulous spot.  If we’re in the mood for a quick, easy jog with lots of people-watching, we’ll choose the inside 2.8-mile loop.  If we’re on a more serious run or simply want more miles, we’ll stick to the outside 3.2-mile loop.  While I typically head for other routes once my runs top 8+ miles, I have recorded a few 9-10 mile runs around the lake (it gets rather boring after the third go-round).

During my first running “career,” years before I met my darling, I concocted the “Greenlake Game” that broke up the monotony by rewarding points for people watching.  Here’s how it works: you get 1 point for every person you’ve seen before.  Typically it’s someone you’ve seen at the lake, but that’s not necessary.  The key is you don’t know anything about the person — their name, where they work, etc.  However, you get 2 points if you recognize the person and know something about them (but typically you don’t know their name).  The checker at the market, your UPS driver, etc. — they’d warrant 2 points.  You receive 3 points if it’s someone you’d stop to say hello to — typically a co-worker or casual acquaintance.  You don’t HAVE to stop to say hello to get the points (sometime you see them from afar or are just too focused on your run), but you know them well enough to do so.  If they’re a close friend you get 4 points, 5 points if you slept with them and 6 points if you slept with them the night before.  (Remember, I was single when I first devised the game.  Nowadays if either my darling or I scored 6 points from one person, there’d be some serious ‘splainin’ to do).  Finally, if you choose someone at the beginning of your run and then you see that person, you get 10 points.

One day, a couple of years before my darling and I married, he brought the wooden kayak he just built down to the lake for a test paddle.  I decided to go for a run, and when I arrived I saw he was talking to some guy admiring the boat.  As I approached I realized the guy was the brother of one of my college friends.  We chatted a bit, and as he walked away my darling says, “Hey!  You just got 4 points!”  I paused for a moment to make a judgment call.  Even though we weren’t even engaged at that point, we had been together for about three years.  But was our relationship strong enough to survive what I was about to say?  I decided to take the chance.

“Ummm… honey?  I just earned 5 points.”

(Yes, dear readers, I was a wild child during my college years.  My name might as well have been Eat Drink Run Ho-bag.  Or more appropriately — Drink Drink Drink Ho-bag).

Fortunately my darling thought it was hilarious and we’ve continued the Greenlake Game for several years (thankfully there’s only been one other boyfriend sighting).

Once I introduced the game to my darling, he started changing the rules and coming up with arbitrary ways of earning points (he’s so darn competitive).  What if we both know the person — do we both get the points or is it the first person to spot them?  And what if I choose someone at the beginning but my darling sees that person first, do I still get 10 points?  He gets me into a tizzy over this; it’s MY game and we play by MY rules (he’s probably jealous he doesn’t have as many opportunities to run into former conquests).

However, we have made concessions.  For example, because we run the lake so much we’ve come up with names for our regulars.  There’s High Arm Girl, who holds her arms tight and high to her chest, clutching her MP3 player (she’s also very speedy; she blew my doors off during tonight’s run); there’s Spanish Lessons Guy, who I introduced you to in My own private Greenlake (saw him too tonight); Stocky Guy, whose physique is about as far from an elite runner’s as can be (he’s barrel-chested with short stubby legs, yet doesn’t let that stop him); Skinny Bearded Guy; Super-focused Runner Gal Who Gets Cranky at People Who Don’t Grasp the Concept of “Passing on your Left” (oh wait — that would be me); Braces Guy (he has leg braces on both legs, yet is quite the fast walker); Tall Bike Dude (both he AND his bike are tall) and Crazy Lady Who Doesn’t Realize She’s Belting Out Helen Reddy for All the World To Hear (oops — me again!).  Because we see these people so much, the first person to spot them gets two points (we also can’t pick them at the beginning of our run).

Given my obvious ho-bag advantage in the people-watching game, I decided to devise another one (even though I too am competitive, I figured I should give my darling a sporting chance).  This one is called the Race Shirt Game; here are the points:

1 point — you see someone wearing a race shirt you have, but from a different year.
2 points — same race shirt, same year
3 points — you’re wearing the race shirt and see someone wearing the same shirt, different year
5 points — you’re wearing the shirt from the same year

Although this hasn’t been an issue yet, I think more points should be awarded for non-local races.  After all, seeing a Seattle Marathon shirt isn’t unique (in fact, I scored 4 points during tonight’s run — 2 for the same shirt, 1 each for different years).  But if I were to see someone wearing a Disney Marathon shirt, I think it should be worth more.  And if I saw someone with a Marathon du Medoc shirt, well, THAT would be worth some major coin (however, it’s not a very good running shirt, so I’ll never get the points for wearing it).

As with the people-watching game, my darling had to start testing the rules.  What if we no longer have the race shirt — does it still count?  While I’ve run the St. Patty’s Day Dash several times, I’ve tossed most of my shirts since they’re cotton.  (I think it should still count).  What if you’ve run the race, yet didn’t receive the shirt?  (This only applies to my darling as he’s been a naughty boy and has bandited a few races).  I say if you never possessed the shirt, you don’t get the points.  How many times can you count the same shirt?  (I’ll count them as long as they’re on different people).

Considering I’ve run far more races than my darling, once again I have an advantage.  I just now need to figure out how many points I’d get if I were to see an old boyfriend wearing one of my race shirts.