Crooked Road No. 1 in the bag

Wanted to throw these numbers from Page 1 up here for NEXT year!! And in the hopes that this graphic will help me remember how inspired I was by so many of the folks who really put themselves out there day and night.

Pretty easy to stop in these short-lap deals, and never go out again. Cheers to all those who stayed out there the whole way, and also to those who took a break and came back out. I was in the latter group (as expected), and I'm 100-percent sure that I found the guts to leave that warm car and jump back in BECAUSE I heard the footfalls of Redpath, Finkle, Gabell, Kuzma, Surrette, etc. Thank you, friends. It was, once again, an honor to be in your presence.

So many stories. So much exploration. Lots and lots and lots of suffering. And triumph.

It's ON!!!

There are 12 days left in 2011. And I am 12 2-hour runwalks away from knocking out 190 of them for the year.

Two more work days and then JMU shuts down until Jan. 3, so things get a bit more flex for me. Christmas Day is looking kinda squirrely schedule-wise, so that means I either punch one out at 0400 or try for a pair of long ones on one of the other days.

If everything breaks just right, No. 190 ought to pop to life on New Year's Eve just in time for the second running of the Reddish Knob Road Marathon, a ridiculous two-trips-up-and-down a fairly steep mountain road that tallies something like 9,600 total feet elevation change.

Twelve days left. Twelve more runs between here and 190.

This thing is so on! 

Winner

Well, here we are.

Two more sleeps until Crooked Road 24-Hour. This one's new to me, so I don't know anything more than what's on the web, which is a good bit, but def not the same as having seen it with your own two feet.

Optimism is running high. I'm feeling fresh. Have actually even done a bit of speed work for this. Even knocked out a 33:19 5-miler on a crazy hilly course Thanksgiving Day that was really more like a tempo effort except for flying down the downhills. Zero residual soreness in the days after. Very psyched about that. Seems the yoga and all the extra single-leg exercise attention may be paying dividends. Guess the running has something to do with it, too.

So, I've figured and re-figured and calculated and re-calculated to come up with The Plan. I've gone to sleep thinking about it. Dreamed all night about it. Waked up with it as my first thought (actually, second thought: First thought always goes like this: "Another day? Kewl. Thank you, Lord. Now, let's go kick some ***!)

The Plan: Start 3-Days-at-the-Fair slowly and go 3 mins. run 3 mins. walk until dark, then assess. Eat once an hour. Sip sip sip from either the Nathan 10 oz. Sprint bottle or the Nathan pack with two 10 oz. bottles. Tell as many stories as I can remember. Laugh lots, especially when The Hurt settles in.

Goal: Have fun.

If I'm having a great day once the lights go out, I'm going for it. And if I'm not, then it becomes a long walk and the chance to make some new friends.

Either way, I win.