See You In September

And THAT, Ladies and Gentlemen, should be the LAST Sunset Run of this Summer's Vacation Running Experiment ... Unless, of course, I see a sea of lighters on the Spectrum floor inviting me out for an encore; I’m NOT above that. I’m still a little behind pace for my 1000Km on the year, but only by a run or two.

So … How did it go???

Firstly, I learned a LOT about flexibility: Just when you think you have a plan for the day, something changes things out of the blue; someone wants to go play elsewhere for the day [miles plus up!] or a friend goes over [run/ride drops out] or a severe weather event mixes things up [miles go down, but not necessarily out].

Secondly, I stretched a LOT less; I guess I would be pretty awake, warm & loose at training time, so I wouldn't need as much pre-run prep work. This evidenced itself in less hammy issues than I've had in a while ... we'll see how this approach maintains itself when we're back back on the Pre-Dawn Patrol.

Thirdly, I focused a LOT on fueling; both the timing thereof AND what I ate. Lunch was usually a turkey sandwich with provolone and a TON of lettuce, with a schmeer of Ken's Lite Ranch dressing to help laminate everything together. A couple of days I added our own home grown tomatoes; delicious, certainly, but upon reflection THAT was a touch too much acid in the ol' tummy.

All in all, I ran less than I would have had I been able to keep my Pre-Dawn schedule for the Summer, but more than nothing at all, or just 4s & 5s on the weekend. I also got some bike rides in with D’Kid, including a tremendously sucky but totally awesome thunderstorm ride that was highlighted by pedaling the last ½ mile in a hailstorm.

Plus … we saved about $2,400 by skipping Summer Camp for this year, and God Knows we needed to.

I Propose a New Acronym

We all know that DFL [Dead Fuckin Last] is better than DNF [Did Not Finish] which is better than DNS [Did Not Start]

Those are all well and good, and the logic follows well, mathematically ... I mean they always list number of Finishers, number of Starters and number Registered; which follow in increasing numbers so ...

However ...

I propose a new acronym ... DEF = Donated Entry Fee

Sometimes you sign up for a race and [through no fault of anyone's; maybe an over-riding priority pops up] you just can't get to The Line. You’ve paid your way in, thus making a donation to whichever fund or charity the race was for.


Of course, if you TOTALLY wuss out and/or roll over because it's raining or something, DNS still works.

GRANTED: if you register for a race that gets capped and you DON'T run, you're kinda kicking someone else out; but if you CAN transfer your bib ... like I did at Broad Street in '10 … thus keeping Karma intact

Maybe that's another acronym ... SMB&KMOA = Sold My Bib and Kicked my Own Ass