Here Goes Nothing!

Tomorrow is 62-mile day.

And it feels like deja vu all over again.

Remember that half marathon I ran earlier this year without properly training and how stupid I said that was? I'm about to do it again.

So when I start complaining on Monday, tell me to shut the hell up. Remind me that it's my own fault. And send me away for a pity party somewhere else.

Here's the ugly truth:

While I did get 54 miles in two weeks ago, I haven't ridden my bike much since then. In fact I only pedaled 45 minutes during the week. My niece was here, my schedule messed up ... so many excuses. I did do 11 or so miles today as kind of a warm up, just to remind my muscles of the motions.

My knee is killing me. Biking won't hurt it more, of course. But I'm popping a lot of Advil and I'm a little worried about how I'll be walking on Monday.

I've been battling a cold all week. My head is stopped up, I have this annoying dry cough that won't go away or break up. (Mucus! I want mucus!) All of which means I'm not sleeping very well.

Sniff, sniff. Want to hand me a tissue?

The good thing about the Tour de Fort is that it's NOT a race. It's a tour. A ride. The goal is to enjoy the trip and to finish. I'll be cruising with my bike stud brother-in-law, and I hope I'll get to hear all about the just-completed Trek World. (Want some bike envy? See what the important people saw here: https://www.facebook.com/TrekBicycle.)

And I'll remember how fortunate I am to have a nice road bike (Thank you Jim and JC!), to be able to ride since this running thing is not working out so well, and to know in my soul that I can and will finish because my body is strong ... so much stronger than it was 3 years ago.

If you're out and about in Jefferson Country tomorrow and come up on a bunch of bikes ... slow down and give them as much room as possible. Then look for me. I promise to wave back.