Have you ever wanted to drop kick an alarm clock, I mean that. I mean, when you’re alarm clock starts blaring talk radio at 5:00 in the morning on a Saturday because you forgot to flip the dial over to FM, unlike Folgers in your cup it’s just not the best part of waking up.
However that happened to me Saturday when I went to participate in the 38th annual Derby Festival Mini-Marathon and 10th annual marathon—all right, I should probably back up here because you very well might be under the impression that I was running in the marathon.
Or that I’m one of those guys in the tight spandex and short shorts that is trying to make myself as aerodynamic as possible, well I wasn’t in the top of the heap, or the bottom but rather I was working the first water stop, with LG&E, UPS, and a DJ who was as apt at parody songs as Sir Weird Al Yankovic.
You know those folks that stand at either end of the road with water bottles for the runners, ah yes, I was among those people. Unloading trucks, boxes, and cleaning up was what was keeping me from my normal Saturday morning ritual: sleeping, followed by eating sugary cereal and watching cartoons.
The event itself is an annual tradition meant to coincide with the balloon race and the plethora of other derby week activities and sure enough I got to meet people from all over the country who had come out to participate in the event.
All around a pretty successful venture, and I’ll admit it might have even been better than an episode of Spongebob. But now that all the pre-festivities are over next weekend the most important runners will be of the equine variety.
Image: D. Rose
