October Half: Purdue Boilermaker Half in West Lafayette, IN

Number 10 on my half-a-month journey was on and around the campus from whence I matriculated, the Purdue Boilermaker Half in West Lafayette, IN.

Purdue's campus is nice. The weather was cool-ish. 

The only snag, I'd forgotten to bring my GPS watch, which meant I had to run with my phone. I don't like running with my phone, even with my fancy phone holder waist thingy. And I had my other, non-GPSy FitBit that syncs with my phone so I could at least keep track of my splits, but still... it's a pain.

But, I brought Jen, also a Boiler grad, with me for moral support.

And we made a friend!

We ran into Purdue Pete on the way to the start!

The crowd was considerably larger than I'd expected... way bigger than last month's half in Columbus. Quite a few students, or VERY recent grads... let's just say plenty of people way younger than me.

And there was this guy...

I'm gonna guess he's making a boiler.
Just a guess.

I lined up behind this woman, who I'm gonna go ahead and assume is named Amy, though I didn't ask...

 Amy(?)

I did however high-five her because she was running her 100th half! Pretty cool. She ran with a friend, who was not running her 100th half. I wondered if that other woman felt insecure about her measly half tally, but again, I didn't ask.

The gun went off, I fumbled a bit with my Fitbit and phone to get them synced and working, and then it went pretty... uneventful.

Me running uneventfully

Well, ok... now that I think about it...it wasn't completely uneventful.

Somewhere around half way, my FitBit went all vibratey on me... it was telling me that my sister Deborah was calling. "Uhg... why now? Why in the middle of a damn race?! She's so clueless..."

Then she called again!

And again!!

And then another number called me a few times. "Does she think she can fool me with the ol' 'Call From Another Number' trick?"

Eventually she stopped calling and I went along my merry way.

I ran a comfortable, steady pace. The hills didn't bother me. I didn't wilt in the heat because there really wasn't any. I finished strong-ish and broke 2 hours by a minute and a half.

Requisite finish line photo.

After the finish I went for my phone to see if Deborah had left a message, only to find my phone dead. "That's weird..."

We took the long way back to the Union hotel, oooh-ing and ahhh-ing at the changes to the campus. What used to be a grid of brick buildings and asphalt streets is really lovely now.

 Think your University is cool?

Neil Armstrong's moon boot print.
(Drops the microphone.)

Eventually we got back to the room, I plugged my phone in and took a shower.

And then I saw this...

My shame... let me explain...

So... remember when I said I didn't have my GPS watch, so I had to use my other FitBit and my phone in the fancy phone holder waist thingy?

And remember when I said I fumbled at the start with my phone to get the Non-GPSy FitBit to sync?

Yeah, so apparently I didn't quite get the phone turned off either... when I put it back into the fancy phone holder waist thingy.

And... apparently... while I was running, I kinda sorta butt-dialed my sister.

19 times.

She did leave a message one of those times she called. I rather frantic message that went something like "I can't hear you when you call. I'm working in the food truck at the IU game. I hope you're ok... call me please to let me know you're ok. Ok?"

That was after 7 calls.

I butt-dialed her TWELVE MORE TIMES.

After I stopped laughing, which took a considrable amount of time, I tried to apologize...

Oh, and those calls from the strange number? They were from the fine people she was working with in the food truck at IU. The ones who were also terrified I was barely able to press my sister's speed-dial and unable to speak because I was losing consciousness while having a heart attack in a ditch somewhere. They were considering packing up the food truck and leaving the IU football game to try, somehow, to rescue me. When they heard I was ok, they sent their best wishes...

We laughed some more.

Then we went to Harry's and had victory beers and burgers. And laughed even more.

So... finished under 2 hours, hung with Purdue Pete and Harry's Chocolate Shop, touched base with my sister... a pretty good half.

Boiler right the hell up!

Good running,
Doug

If you'd like to catch up on the year in halfs so far, here are links:

1. Jan: runDisney StarWars half at Disneyland
2. Feb: Gasparilla Half in Tampa FL
3. Mar: Sam Costa Half in Carmel IN
4. Apr: Carmel Half in Carmel IN
5. May: Geist Half in Fishers IN
6. Jun: Zionsville Half in Zionsville, IN
7. Jul: Rock 'n' Roll in Chicago, IL
8. Aug: Viking Dash Trail Half in Muncie, IN
9. Sep: Mill Race Half in Columbus, IN

Next up is the Monumental Half in downtown Indianapolis