The Weekend before the Storm

Well, I kicked off the weekend with a 6 mile run on Friday after work. It’s the longest distance that I’ve attempted in over 20 years. Wow. Let that sink in for a moment. Thinking back to when my father was running marathons, and I considered myself a “distance” runner, I always hated the 6 mile run. It always hurt, I never felt strong during the run, and it hurt, a lot. Yes, I meant to repeat “hurt”. I was on the last ½ mile or so of my run, and it hit me that I was getting ready to complete the distance that always whooped me, and finish it feeling strong. As I took my last step, I threw my hands up in celebration, knowing I had just beaten a distance that owned me all of my life. Not only did I finish this distance strong, but I actually thought about continuing a little further (I didn’t, but only because I was pretty sure my wife had Christo’s Pizza waiting for me at home). Another thought ran through my mind, and that was that for the first time in my training, I truly felt that I can complete the upcoming Spartan Beast, just one week away. I’ve been training my mind to the tune that I can finish the race. But it was at this moment when I truly felt that I can complete the distance. Yes, it’s going to be exhausting, but finishing the race is doable. I’ve come to the mindset of “the only way I don’t finish, is if they have to physically carry me off of the course because I can’t go on”. Otherwise, I don’t care how long it takes me I am going to cross that finish line. Looking back on the past two weeks, it’s been a blur. I still can’t believe that I agreed to run in a half marathon (with 25+ obstacles), with only 3 weeks to train. Crazy. Well, I only have a few more days to prepare. Thankfully, as of today the weather report is looking good for race day. May be a little warm, but that may be to our advantage. I’ve researched the facility where the event is to be held, and boy does it look “fun”. And by “fun” I mean that it has a lot of mud, and some crazy steep hills to climb. At this point though, I don’t want it to be easy. I expect it to be the toughest thing I’ve ever done, and wouldn’t want anything less.