![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.runkevinrun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/2013-05-04-Pre-Race-3.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>The point is, I just can’t do hats. They hurt my head (not because I’ve got a big brain, but because there’s so much hot air in there that the noggin bulges). And I never know what to do with my hair — tuck it under the brim? Leave it curling out? I suppose in this regard it’s a good thing I wasn’t living in the 1940s. I’d never have been able to pull off a fedora.<\/p>\n
But it being the annual Dwarf Festival here in Wroclaw, I felt like I should at least try and wear the paper red cone hat they gave me. Besides, my charming AirBNB hosts said they’d try and come out and cheer me on so I wanted to be easily recognizable — all the more reason to put a red cone on my head.<\/p>\n At the start line, I was surprised to see I was the only one wearing a dwarf hat. I later posted to Facebook that this must have been incredibly embarrassing for the other runners. I’m glad I wasn’t in their shoes, not because I have no idea if they wear a size 10.5 or 11 for overpronaters, but also because they must not have known it was the annual Dwarf Festival. As the kilometers clicked by, I had a number of people cheer me on specifically as either “hey! Pinocchio!” or “Krasnale!” which I think is Polish for “dwarf,” but like every other Polish word I have no idea how to pronounce it… and this despite trying to download audio files of various key phrases like, “hello,” “good-bye,” “thank you,” and “I’m a dumb American and can barely speak my own language and am totally at a loss speaking Polish. Do you happen to speak English (please say yes!)?”<\/p>\n And so I bargained with myself regarding the hat:<\/p>\n And thus when all was said and done, the hat made it the full 42.195 kilometers. My time was a disappointment (more on that in a moment) but we take our victories where we can… no matter how small. Wait, shoot. I didn’t mean small. Is that culturally insensitive? I don’t want to be even a little insensitive here. Aw, crap.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n I have a rule that as long as the pain moves around my body from day to day, I don’t worry too much about it. But if it concentrates and lingers in a spot, I should probably re-evaluate and re-examine what’s causing what. Well, sad to say, the same pain that’s been haunting me since Pikes Peak reared its ugly head in my left hip and back legs.\u00a0 It hurt from the countdown to go and thereafter for kilometer after kilometer, mile after mile.\u00a0 It’s all a bit troubling and I may go into greater detail tomorrow as so far there’s been no luck in booking that Auschwitz trip.\u00a0 Maybe that’s for the best as I’m feeling a bit down anyway.\u00a0 And I suspect, despite that prior reviewer’s commentary, that this would be a tough emotional trip and not exactly “enjoyable” but quite possibly “necessary and important.”\u00a0 I’m still hoping Tuesday might work but… well… it’s not looking promising.\u00a0 Which is also kind of a bummer.<\/p>\n Meantime, here’s a bunch of photos from the day.\u00a0 Rather than narrating along I thought I’d just let the photos speak for themselves… with just a couple of instances of context to help set the scene.<\/p>\n<\/a>
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