Stuff and Things

Photo: StGrundy, Flickr Creative Commons

Tomorrow morning I'll roll out of bed far too early, pull on my quick-drying clothes and lace up my running shoes before heading down to the nearest MARTA station to get to the starting line of the Peachtree Road Race. This race will be a little different than the two 5K races I've run this year. Both of those only involved a few hundred participants and the courses only meandered over 3.1 miles. The first difference is the size. 55,000 people will run the Peachtree, and it's divided into starting waves, each of which involve thousands of runners. Reading up on the race last night I found out that you often spend a significant portion of the first mile walking, waiting for the crowd to open up enough to pick up your pace. The Peachtree is a 10K, and because of other activities in June, I've not yet actually run more than 4.5 miles in a stretch. The plan involved my finishing a 6-mile training run by this point, but it never happened. I spent too much time on the trail and on the road in June. In fact, from Memorial Day weekend through June 24, I spent seven nights sleeping in my hammock tent and 11 days on the trail. Those backpacking trips came in three different weeks and all of them basically threw off my training schedule because I had to worry about pushing my legs too hard. Recovery days are important, at least for me.

I'm not too worried about finishing the 10K, though. The end of my 4.5-mile runs feel the same as the end of my 2- and 3-mile runs, and I've spent so much time carrying a heavy pack up steep hills during my hikes last month that running the hills around my in-laws' house seems easy. I may not make my goal time, but I won't have to walk for being tired.

I'm not so sure about these damned braces, though. Theoretically, in a year and a half I'll be able to take these things off and no longer have the jaw pain and teeth grinding I have now. What actually happens, I have no idea. I'm just ready for my teeth to stop hurting enough so I can eat easily again.