"Come on, baby." Paul urged, with understanding. "Let's go have some fun. You LOVE to have fun! Remember?"
He was right: it was time to crawl out from under my rock and get back to livin'. Like Beams would have wanted.
So we signed up for a fun diddy of a race called the Chip's Not Dead Yet Memorial Mile. A one-mile race up the 10th Avenue hill in Vancouver.
The fun part is definitely NOT running up hill for a mile but rather how the participants ran.
There were several waves to choose from: The superhero wave, the bridal wave, the bahama mama wave, the underwear-only wave, and, the one that we settled for, the rock star wave.
So we joined 2500 other runners all clad in varying degrees of hilarious attire: wedding dresses and runners, briefs and boxers, capes and tights, etc.
All these maniacs, ready to run up hill looking hilarious and feeling great.
The premise of the Chip's Not Dead Yet Memorial Mile is simple:
Chip, the founder of Lululemon Athletic Apparel here in Vancouver, decided that as long as he's not dead, he might as well run up that hill. Because he can. Consequently, he joined the bridal dash and crossed the finish line wearing a purple satin bridesmaid dress. It was hysterical.
So since we're not dead yet (whew!), Paul and I and our pal Mike suited up for the Rock Star wave and decided to do our best on that nasty hill.
Mike showed up in tight tight TIGHT black jeans, black pointed boots, a leather jacket, a black wig, sunglasses, and a guitar case on his back. He was like a retro Elvis. And he ran, in 25-degree weather, with all of it! He even did a mid-air heel-kick-tap as he crossed the finish line that drove the crowd wild.
Paul decided to embrace his inner 80s icon, and pimped himself out in glitter makeup, pink nail polish, a fur-lined leather jacket, and a cowboy hat. As he crossed the finish line, the announcer called out: "Here comes one heckuva pimp!!"
I called on Axel Rose for inspiration, and donned a bandana, sunglasses, an old rock&roll tee, and Paul's RUSH belt.
Together, the three of us tackled that hill, all without stopping, and earned our right to still be alive.
It was the first time in a week that I felt alive.
Running is like breathing for me. Essential to my well-being.
At the top, we chowed down on turkey sandwiches and energy bars, watched the Lululemon girls do crowd-pleasing cheerleading routines, and applauded as the other runners crossed the finish line.
As we were leaving (we decided to run down the hill and home) I bumped into a couple with a greyhound.
And all seemed right in the world again.
