Before I get into this post, I’m going to warn you that I am currently high and cannot be held accountable for how this post comes out. Oh.. on second read I better clarify that before you get a wrong opinion. By high I mean ALTITUDE, as in the neighborhood of 10,000 feet. Unfortunately, my body is not taking it that well even though I’m probably in the best cardio shape in my life since hanging up martial arts. I recall a previous discussion with a doctor in Breckinridge where I learned the better in shape you are, the worse altitude sickness can affect you – that time was a lot more serious than this trip (thus the prompt care visit). My main problem this time is just a slow nagging headache and inability to get good sleep. The latter is good for attempting to get caught up on my posts this month. So, today I bring you an update on my race season. On September 13th I once again participated in the Illinois Valley Striders Half Marathon in Springdale Cemetery.
Avid readers of my blog should be familiar with how difficult this race is. There are three hills in each of the two loops of this race that can make a grown man cry – if they have not properly trained (or “practiced” as my brother likes to refer to it as). Two years ago, this race put me on my knees (link here). That was not a fun experience by any means and Linda will often reference that event when wanting to make a point about my obsession for long races. She would of course refer to it more, but now she usually leverages “the episode” from last year to drive the point home. Last year was suppose to be my redemption year.. supposed to be. Once again Mr. Humidity showed up to remind me that he still owned me. Sure, I made it through the race much better than the year before, but then I put a punctuation mark on it by throwing up on the way home (link here). This year was going to be different. I had trained too hard this season to let this happen again and then there’s that whole threat from Linda on the consequences if I pushed myself over the edge again. Nothing like a little more pressure to pour on the day seeing how there is a bigger goal that would be in jeopardy should something go wrong at this event.
Unlike most of my races .. err…more specific all but like 1 short one, Linda wasn’t going to be there to cheer me on and more importantly keep me from getting too worked up about it. Nope, she was leaving me to my own accountability, which quite frankly isn’t the wisest decision to make, but she had a dog commitment meaning I was flying solo. On race day I woke up at 4:50am and took a gander outside to see what I was in for. Unlike the last two times, there was a definite chill in the air. The temperature read 48. Good thing I was alone then because I broke out my very rare happy dance. Things were looking up and I hadn’t even wiped the sleep from eyes yet.
Hit the jump to see how things turned out!
Sitting here waiting for the sun to go down a bit before a run so figured this would be a good time to make another post. Like the time before this and the time before that and the time before that we once again have another bird free post. For the record I sure expected at least a few dozen fan emails thanking me for this drought of feathers based on the amount of hate mail that shows up when I relish in them for extended periods. Nope, nada, no sir, completely empty. Oh well, I try. Anyway, today’s post focused on a topic that hasn’t been touched in a while… Service. Truth be told, it is usually a good thing there hasn’t been a lot of discussion on this topic because it means there was generally good experiences. Today is in support of that hypothesis. That good experience may have been amplified due to a bad experience followed by a bad experience followed by a bad experience followed by a bad experience. Regardless, the good aspect warranted a mention because it is rare that I change an opinion of a vendor after a bad experience.
Life Intrigued 