Marching Forward

What is this white stuff falling out of the sky?
A very strange thing happened in the "Old Pueblo" this weekend. When I got up on Sunday a.m., I glanced out the window, and what to my wondering eyes should appear, but some strange white substance perching on cactus pads and coating the roofs in the neighborhood. I blinked and rubbed my eyes, then stepped outside to take a closer look and further examine this strange substance. I tentatively poked at a patch and immediately drew back after registering that it was cold. And slightly wet. What could it be? I picked up my paper (after dusting off the white stuff coating the plastic wrapper) and dashed back inside, where I bolted for the computer and quickly googled "white wet cold stuff" to see what I might be able to find out. And I found out a lot. Among other links, there were ones for adult beverages, a music album, and an episode of "The Dukes of Hazzard" (yee-hah!). And then there were links about this stuff called "snow." The more I thought about it, the more familiar that strange word seemed. It triggered something hidden deep in the dark recesses of my memory. Something I'd repressed. Something I'd pushed down and chained into a dank, shadowed corner of my subconcious. I then pulled up images of "snow" and memories started flashing through my mind like a kaleidoscopic vision accompanied by bongo beats and flutes, and I think I passed out for several seconds. And when I awoke, I remembered it all. The cold, dark days of winter. The blustery, shivery winds. The temperatures below zero, accompanied by frostbite warnings. Shoveling huge masses of this substance called "snow" off the driveway and sidewalks around my childhood home. Scraping the windshield every morning to remove the frost. Luckily, snowfall is a highly unusual occurrence in the "Old Pueblo" and it's supposed to be sunny and warm this weekend as opposed to cloudy and cold.

And away we go…
Hard to believe, but "U-Day" is almost here. In less than a week, I'll be lining up with about 175 other semi-crazy folks in the predawn dark and waiting for the starting gun to go off. And once it goes off, I'll start running. And I'll keep running and keep running and keep running (and walking on occasion) for the next 10-12 (hopefully) hours until I've covered 50 miles and gone up, down, and all around for 8,000 feet in total elevation gain. Hopefully, I won't run into too many blisters, cramps, other other issues along the way and I'll be able to manage my eating and drinking and pacing in such a way that I'm able to actually finish this thing upright. Right now, I'm feeling strong but nervous. I know I've done the best I could with the training, and for the most part, I think I stuck to the plan the way it was written up, so I suppose I'm ready to go. It's just a little hard to imagine actually being out there on the roads/trails for such a long time/distance.

And once the Ultra is in the rear view mirror…
It will be time to ramp up training for the next event on my list, which is the "Deuce-man" triathlon at the beginning of June. I've (obviously) been running plenty over the past few months, and I've been swimming a couple of times a week, so even though I'm not particularly fast or graceful in the water, I think I can thrash my way through the 1.2 mile swim, but I've really been neglecting the bike portion, so I've got to spend more time out on the road in the next few months. Tally ho!

That's all for now, so until the next time, may your weather remain clear, may your hills remain climbable, and may your wishes all come true.