We had a brief glimmer of Fall, and then it went away. It's warm (hot) again, and forecast to hit 90+ by the end of the week. That said, I have three (well, four) races looming on the horizon, and my only plan at this point is to follow a structured training plan...um, no. Use one as a trainer for the next? Sure. Just like last time! A sketchy, technical mountain half marathon to train for a mountain full marathon a week later, with a trail marathon chaser the next day, three weeks before a 100? Yes, I'm an idiot. No, I can't help it. Am I gonna give it a shot? Yup! Because if I don't try, I'll never know if I could have pulled it off. I even started shopping for a tent, for Chrissakes!!!
Monday - 0 Miles. 100 Pushups. Labor Day and I didn't do a damn thing.
Tuesday - 0 Miles. 100 Pushups. Shitty weather. But hey! My copy of "Nowhere Near First" by Cory Reese came in, and I read half the damn thing in one sitting. Couldn't put it down, it's so well-written and entertaining! Great read!
Wednesday - 8 Miles. 3 on Champlin Trails before work, and 5 on Lantern Hill after work. Two-a-days? This was fun. I snuck in a short trail run near our current jobsite, quickly changed and worked until mid-afternoon, then hit up Lantern for a short Fiver with 900' of elevation gain on technical, slippery trails. Good Kismet Cliff training. I somehow managed to plow through a college geology field trip from ECSU about four times, with bewildered students trying to move off the trail, and the professor so engrossed in the rock he was holding that he almost clocked me with it (Cool dude, we chatted after his class/my run, me apologizing for interrupting his class, he apologizing for almost smashing my face with a chunk of quartz). Fun seeing a class full of students learning about the quartz deposits on Lantern, it's an awesome place! Glad I get to run there :) (100 pushups)
Thursday - 2.5 Miles - Champlin trails before work again. Another muggy morning, but I got something in before the day warmed up. Did the reverse route from the previous day, and finished with a shot at a short segment there, got it, and probably won't hold it for very long, given the local population ;) (100 pushups)
Friday - 2 Miles - Champlin trails (again!). - Well, hot damn. I finally figured out that I could definitely squeeze in a couple miles before work, change, be at the jobsite at a reasonable time and blah, blah, blah...and hey! 80-ish degrees and 1000% humidity, and I was happy to get something in before it hit 90+, which it did. Nothing like mixing tile mortar and cutting tile in the Sun!
Saturday - 3.4 Miles. - Long run of some sort...or not. Ultimately, the heat won out and I did another Lantern Hill run. It was pretty much all I had time for after lunch and a family outing to Whole Foods, which should be called "Wholly Shit, this Food's Expensive!" But I digress. Lantern was, again, hot and muggy and I couldn't stop sweating, changed shirts, gave up and ran without, and was generally a disgusting slob shuffling up and down the hills. Gross.
Sunday - Surftown spectating! This almost deserves its own writeup, given how much freakin' fun I had! I've run the Surftown 1/2 Marathon three times, but as I run down there enough, it doesn't make my race calendar. It's still a great place to run though! As I had several friends who were running, I decided to head down and cheer them on. I even got up at 5:30 to get ready, and I don't get up that early for just anyone! Got all my gear together, and left the house at 6:30 with my bike thrown in the truck, and a pump to inflate the tires. Saw Jeff V. on the drive down, so I pulled over to fill my tires and say hello. Wrong pump, shit. Jeff graciously offered me his only CO2 cartridge, but I didn't want to leave him hanging and declined. Worst case, I hit Benny's and buy a new pump. I found a soccer ball pump in my truck and fashioned a MacGyver inflator from a couple pieces, and managed to fill the tires until I could ride the damn thing. It's a great bike, I just never ride it.
Anyway, I got to the start right before the gun went off. The wind was whipping straight out of the West, and I could only imagine the Hell the runners were gonna face. Direct headwind, or oppressive humidity, take your pick. The runners took off, and after they left I found Tommy, who was running the 5k. We chatted, and I rode a ways up the course to watch the start. I also got to see the finish, where he was so far in front of the next runner, they weren't even in sight! Snapped a couple pics, then watched the Half Marathon leaders come through Misquamicut headed toward Watch Hill. Nobody looked thrilled. Saw Mike B., who said the headwind was brutal...
Headed out to Watch Hill! Got to Ocean House just as Jeff W. crested the hill, suffering but looking strong with two-ish miles to go. Met up with the WTAC cheering squad, and cheered our people onward and upward. I even joined a couple of friends (Faith, Antone) for the run up the hill!
I knew at some point I had to ride back to my truck, with my underinflated tires. Beth bailed me out by offering me the use of her bike pump, and got my tires to where they were supposed to be, from 40 psi to 110 psi. I'm a dummy, I know this, it's been firmly established already and I'm impervious to the looks! I never ride the bike! Gonna have to get it tuned up, it's supposed to have about 24 gears and I have One. 2nd/6th, whatever that is. 12th? I rode back along the race route in reverse, cheering on the back of the pack runners, who were all smiles and I got several thank yous and thumbs-ups. Great crowd! And yes, the bike was riding much better :)
Returned to the beach for a short stop at the afterparty, chatted with Jeff and a few others and hauled ass back to my truck. The bike was kind of fun! Not in a "I want to ride it every day" kind of way, just a nice supplement to all the other stuff I get to do. I was also able to easily access every part of a closed-off set of roads with no problem, which was very cool indeed! Fun morning!!!
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