I must admit, this was one of the scariest Octobers I have experienced in a long time. If you recall from the last post (link here) , every day this month was packed with task after task trying to get everything done for the big party. If you recall from that post (or looked at the comments) you might remember that there was a quick mention of an “event” I was training for. That was a tad understated since the event was actually a half marathon… and it was scheduled for the DAY BEFORE THE PARTY. Actually, check that… it was literally the NIGHT BEFORE THE PARTY. I am not exactly sure what came over me when I decided to enter this race, but I had a Life List entry for this year to make it through 2 halfs sometime during the year. As you know, I made it through the first one back in September (link here). That didn’t leave a whole lot of time to get the second one in before the end of the year. Originally the thought was to hit the Vegas Rock and Roll 1/2 in December, but then I stumbled on the Screaming Pumpkin Race. First of all, it was at night which is my favorite time to race. Second it was a course I was familiar with and the cherry .. it was Halloween themed. You can’t go wrong with that can you? ummm, actually you can if you forget about all the other things that had to get done around that time.
The main issue was getting time to keep the maintenance runs up. I was already trained up for the half in September so it was really a matter of keeping the legs fresh and the endurance up. My runs were cut down to three a week – if I could even get that many in – and the miles were backed down into the 7 to 9 range which made it sliiiightly easier to get in between tasks. Unfortunately, sometime at the beginning of the month something bad happened … to the point I would have argued with any doctor that tried to convince me I didn’t give myself a hernia. That was the last thing I needed. I did make the training runs, but found myself going slower and slower at the splits. CRAP! The interesting thing is there was no visible sign so there was some optimism that it was just a nasty muscle pull. As race day approached, I became so busy that I actually forgot about it and somehow it ended up feeling pretty good – nothing like mind over matter – if someone could bottle that the medical industry would be devastated.
Hit the jump to read all about the event!
Life Intrigued 