Training for Lean Horse (part four)

My training is finished. I've lost too much weight and my left knee flares up every couple of miles. My quads are tight and my calves tingle. My body is suitably exhausted and my mind is comfortably numb (insert joke here).  I fear the heat and the possibility of injury is worrisome.  My shoes are shot, my shirt stinks, and my shorts are worn thin. My race food is simplified to Pringles (white carbs and salt) and Jujubes... sad.  My race-beard is scruffy and itching like crazy. This week's plan is all about walking, resting, and pasta... although Scott's recommendation of lots of craft beer and ice-cream seems sensible. ;)

I'm done like dinner.

The last three weeks I ran 70 miles, then 60, and then 50... the taper has begun.

I have a new secret weapon. I call it the Jo button.  When you're flagging, when you're exhausted and think you can't go another step, when your knee hurts, when your quads are tight like a piano string, when you're dehydrated and feeling nauseous....just tap the Jo button three times.

I called upon the Jo button every other mile on my 21 mile run on Sunday.

The hurt doesn't go away... it still sucks... but it puts in into perspective.  Tapping the Jo button draws on my inner Jo. It draws on my strength and fierce determination.  Tapping the Jo button reminds me of this incredible woman who has become the voice for Glioblastoma brain cancer.  Tapping the Jo button doesn't make the pain go away, but it does make it seem insignificant, almost irrelevant.

Joanne's in palliative care now.

On Saturday I run Lean Horse Ultra.

Every step a thought of Jo.

My friends, it is difficult to end this way, but it has become customary on See Mike Run, and I know Jo would be pissed off if it were omitted, so, I say to you, with a heavy heart...

It's a good day to be alive...

that and 'f*ck cancer'.

Mike

Jo at Ted's Run for Literacy
(photo credit Fern Berard)