Get your own
 diary at DiaryLand.com! contact me older entries newest entry

2:36 p.m. - 2008-01-29
Fat Ass prelim

So on ML King's birthday I headed over to Kennekuk Cove to get a preview of the FatAss course. It was late in the afternoon. Maybe 25 degrees and windy. The course is listed by the park at 7.3 miles. The running club sponsoring the outing lists their course at 7.1 miles. I'm not sure which is correct, but that thing kicked my ass. The up and downs were steep and the frozen ground was very uneven. It just took so much extra energy for my legs to stabilize me. When I got done I was tired. Not just tired, my legs were spent. I never remember my legs feeling like this in my life. Not even after jumping off the house. I had secretly dreamt to myself that somehow I'd go out and channel the spirits of runners past to carry me around that thing twice during the event. There's a name for dreams like that. They call them pipe dreams. There's no way in hell that's going to happen. It took me an hour and 29 minutes to get through that thing. It just beat me like a bitch. I've had to become a little more realistic about this thing. My new goal, and this could change during Saturday's beating, is to get through ONCE. In that one time I get through it, I'm going to shoot for 10 minutes faster than last time. The weather forecast is calling for snow the evening before so it's likely to be a slick sonofabitch. If that's the case I'll just try to get out without breaking a leg and make it to the beer tent to revel in my small ass.
That brings us to Wednesday last week. My calves were still exhausted. I mean I was a dead man walking. I've been on my feet 10 to 20 hours a day for the last 30 years and never felt anything like this. But I went out and got 3.5 miles just to get a little exercise. Thursday and Friday were a wash Both evenings brought temps below zero with windchills like 20 or 25 below. I wasn't sleeping worth a damn towards the end of last week either. I found it very easy to blow off any kind of run. Having said that, I was on the way home from work Thursday morning and saw a guy out running. He was passing one of those thermometers in front of a bank. It read -5! He was wearing leggings with a pair of shorts over the top, a long underwear shirt with a cut off sweatshirt over the top of it, gloves, hat and of course running shoes. I've seen that guy out before and the next time I run into him I'm going to tell him "Buddy, you're a helluva man!"
Hopefully he won't think I'm trying to pick him up.
Saturday my legs still felt like crap but the weather was nice so I went out for another 3.5. I needed to stock up on pellets for my pellet stove, so I went and picked up a ton. It was a pretty good work out unloading those bags out of the back of the truck and carrying them inside. For the record, the back of my pickup truck is the highest leap I make these days.
Sunday was another beautiful day. Temperature was almost 50. Turned what was left of the snow on the trails into slush, puddles or mud. Did another 3.65. Legs felt good.
Today I went for another 3.5 and hope to do the same on Thursday if mother nature doesn't do us too much damage in the next couple days. It's currently 54 outside. By 6am tomorrow it's supposed to be 9. In between we're supposed to get rain/ice/snow and 20mph winds gusting to 49mph. If that one guy is out running tomorrow morning I'm buying him breakfast.
Saturday is the FatAss. I'll have a report when I've recovered.


3 comments

previous - next

about me - read my profile! read other Diar
yLand diaries! recommend my diary to a friend! Get
 your own fun + free diary at DiaryLand.com!