Didn't know I was doing it until the day before really. Nick Bates - errr - "Beast" threw the idea at me about a week in advance. I was like, "Hmmm." It sounded really fun - and possible - yet somewhat ill-advised given my lack of training and certain recurring maladies. Just 4 weeks prior I had finished P90X and was halfway through Insanity when - shazam - my ab injury resurfaced. Anyways, if it weren't for that I might not have started any running workouts at all. Of course, the predictable knee pain commenced when the outdoor running began. Awesome. So given the circumstances, I tell Nick: "Let me go ahead and say 'No' now so the following 'I'll think about it' is properly couched."
However, I sensed the Spirit had lit the fire inside - and Praise God He did! I felt from the core of my soul, certainly although faintly, that I was about to be taken on this ride in spontaneous yet intentional pursuit of joy.
Joy?
Yeah, you might recall it's a Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians)? Well it also happens to be my 2011 bulls-eye, by the way. Satan's been robbing me of it ever since I was a kid. He really ramped his efforts up 3 years ago in March of '08 and has continued to fight fiercely since then. Undoubtedly, he'll extend the effort for the rest of my earthly life.
BUT (recalling Ephesians 4: 2-10), thanks to the Almighty, the eternal loser didn't win this time. I had a couple long runs under my belt (5 & 7 miles). Couldn't restart Insanity as of yet, but I figured it and P90 had probably strengthened the legs up enough to endure a 13.1'er (5 longer than the longest run of my life - in high school). Weather was supposed to be great on race day. I sleep well and eat pretty healthily, so I'm clean there already. Plus, without proper training allowance and goal-setting time, I couldn't overtrain nor could my analytical mind derail me. The goal was simply to finish the dang thing and the way to accomplish it was just to freakin' not quit.
Most importantly though, my guy Nick was ready to rock. His enthusiasm was awesome...and comical. Here's the thing; he's 90 pounds lighter than me and also "much" younger. So a couple things were at play here: 1) It would be really cool, from an "iron sharpens iron" perspective, to crush this race with the "Beast" and 2) I'm not turning down any challenge from some dude that thinks I'm old. You can forget it.
So I forced myself to take 3 straight days off of working out, which is about 3 more than the record (during workout seasons of my life), tested out the legs a little on Saturday morning and signed up on Saturday night, about 12 hours before the start.
We showed up at 7:00am Sunday and shredded the pavement from just after 7:30 to a few minutes past 10:00. Turns out your boy Nick unexpectedly had to deal with more knee pain during the race than I did, which was a total bummer. Regardless, we toughed it out. Snagged water and Gatorade at each station. Stopped to walk a couple of times on the back side. Busted through the finish line - together - where we each put down some cookies, and I also a banana...before heading to Huey's for a celebratory burger and "Diet Coke."
It was one heckuva day. So beautiful outside, unlike last year's cold and rainy race (I heard). I gotta say, it sure did seem like most of the race was uphill (figurative meaning unintended but accurate), but I can't ascertain how that would be possible when one starts and finishes at the same precise location. Regardless, I'm thankful for the convergence of all the blessings needed even to be able to participate in an event such as this one. Every one of them is to God's credit and for His glory.
Thanks BEAST. Here's to Philippians 3: 12-14 dude.
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