My plan yesterday was to leave the house early and stop by the polls on my drive to work. That changed when my son woke up with a nasty cough and a bit of a fever. He couldn’t go to daycare, my wife wasn’t able to stay home with him, and so I had to use a sick day of my own.
Once my wife got home, I went out to vote. But, I realized that since I wasn’t going to the office afterwards, I could travel by foot. I had already done an early morning treadmill run, but a couple extra miles—plus the opportunity to save some gas—would be nice. I stuck my ID and phone into a baggie, laced up my running shoes, and headed out.
Despite the chilly November air, I was sweating a bit by the time I got to our polling place. When I walked into the warm, heated air of the church, I started sweating a lot more. Lesson learned: Next time, wait outside to cool down a bit before heading in.
I worried that all the non-runners there would look at sweaty me as some sort of weird alien creature, but nobody seemed to even notice. It was just a bunch of friendly locals chatting and deciding the country’s future.
After casting my ballot (and wiping a stray drop of sweat off the machine), I was all set to run back home. Only, where do I put this “I Voted” sticker so that it won’t get all sweaty?
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Robert is training in preparation for the 2017 Dopey Challenge with Runner’s World VIP. To learn how you can be part of the RW VIP program, visit runnersworldblog.com/vip.
Robert is the former Executive Producer for Runner’s World Online. He has run over 60 marathons with a personal best of 2:52:11.
