Racing Day

Looking back, it was January 21st when I wrote a note about getting back into running.  Finally, on October 11th, I'm running a race.  My very first.  It's in Ashland, Wisconsin, a place I've never been to but about which I've heard fantastic things.  Beautiful.  We're staying on Madeline Island which I'm also told is one of the most picturesque and charming locations in the midwest, if not the world.  I'm so excited.  I thought I would be nervous, but it's more anticipatory thrill than anything else. 

The butterflies are, I'm finding out, vital to the process because they wake me up at 6:30 am to get my ass out of bed and get my feet on the sidewalk.  They push me past the first big hill into the previously allusive "zone" of running.  Don't misunderstand, I am not one of those people who will tell you "It's a peaceful experience, and once I start I feel like I could run for hours".  No way.  It hurts, and it's hard, and I kind of want to stop all the time.  But once I stopped stopping, it got really good.  And it feels fantastic to know that I can just keep going and I won't actually die.  

So 9 days from now I'll be done and surely feel amazing and almost certainly will have caught the race bug.  At least that's my hope.  Knee health be damned!!  If it all works out maybe I can post a picture of my post-race self.  Red-faced and sweaty.  Hopefully smiling.  Not dead.