It's Been Nearly 6 Months...

I can't believe it's been nearly 6 months since my last blog post, and I'm sorry if I left this as a semi-cliffhanger.  Those of you who were following along probably know that my time at Marine Corps, although nothing to be ashamed of, was not what I wanted or needed in order to qualify for Boston.  I was upset, but I also knew that I needed to shut the pity party down because a marathon time of 3:45 (and change) is something that many, many, many people would kill to have, and the "poor me" attitude would definitely get a STFU from a majority of marathoners.  Sometimes, stuff just isn't meant to be.  But that doesn't mean it's not meant to be at a point in the future...which brings me to today's post!  Yes, there's good news to share!

After running MCM, I had a full, fun, and fabulous running schedule that included my first 50 miler in December, a half marathon / a 6 hour ultra / and pacing at a 100 mile race all in January, my second 50 miler in February, pacing TCM (for the second time) in March, and then the Big D marathon in April.

You know that I trained long & hard for MCM.  It's not that I didn't like the training; I did.  But dealing with an injury that prevented running from being 100% enjoyable wasn't exactly motivating me to dive right back into a 5 or 6 day per week training schedule.  After going into December's 50 miler under-prepared and doing fairly well, I never really had a defined training plan for any of the upcoming races I planned to run, and that included the Big D.  Although I told a few people that I was shooting for a BQ at that race, I wasn't training (hard) for it.  If it happened, great!  If it didn't happen, well, then I'd just need to find another race.  But something told me this time would be different!  A lot of things were lining up to be in my favor.

I had signed up for the Big D marathon a while ago simply because I was going to be in Dallas anyway for a conference, and the marathon was the day before the conference would begin.  Timing-wise, it was just too perfect to pass up! I planned to wear my hydration vest (since that seemed to work well for me at the half marathon in January where I PR-ed) and figured the weather couldn't be much worse (hot & humid) than what I had been running in most mornings here in FL.  As the race got closer, the weather looked to be semi-ok, but the wind would be pretty strong.  Whatever!  I had already paid, so it wasn't like I'd bail on doing the race.  The best part, however, was that I'd have some amazing people there at the race!  How often does that happen?!  (Before getting too upset, I know there have been lots of races where amazing runner friends like Hans and Morgan have been there, but they're usually competing. Trust me, you'll see why this one is different.)  Both RCJ and James were going to be running the full; Melanie, my happy runner friend from Key West, was going to be running the half.  But best of all, Dan was going to be coming with me and cheering me on at different points!  I have never had a race of any distance, let alone a marathon, where someone's been there strictly to see me & cheer me on at various spots.  If you're reading this, you already know that Dan's super-duper special and is wonderfully supportive of my running!  Having him there, I knew, would be huge!

My qualifying time for Boston needed to be 3:40 or less.  To get 3:40, the average pace needs to be 8:24; to get 3:35, the average pace needs to be 8:12, and to get 3:30, the average pace needs to be 8:00.  Based on some past training runs I had, I figured 3:40 was definitely obtainable, and, better yet, 3:35 was pretty do-able too!  My tentative plan was to keep my pace around 8:10-ish and not too much faster so I could avoid the dreaded bonk!  Well, check out my splits.  You can see that really didn't happen!

Yes, you're reading that right, I had eight miles under an 8:00 pace, and another eight miles under an 8:10 pace!  So much for my plan, huh?!

The race started, and I felt pretty good.  In fact, when I saw that 7:42 pace for mile 4, I literally let out a "whoa!"  It wasn't maintainable, but I knew that & wasn't going to try to keep that up.

The first time I'd be seeing Dan would be around mile 9.  It's so nice to have something like that to look forward to, and I was feeling great when I saw him!  He waved, jumped out onto the course, and briefly ran with me (as best he could in flip-flops and jeans).  I knew I'd see him again after the turn around point, so that kept me going!  I would start to see people who had already been to the turn around, and it was neat to be able to tell that there weren't too many female runners ahead of me.  I'd try to wave, give a thumbs up, or say "good job" as those people passed me.  Many, though, were so focused that I'm guessing they didn't see me.  Hey, I get it - when you're running hard, you tend to focus on the 5-10 feet of road in front of you!  No worries!

I don't know what it was, but something changed between mile 9 and mile 16. Maybe it was the direction of the course & having to run head-first into 15+ mph wind, or maybe it was realizing that I had finished 13.1 miles and still had another 13.1 to go.  At some point during this section, I'm pretty sure I had a 2nd Surge gel.  The caffeine would help, or so I thought! The one thing that kept me going was that I knew I'd see Dan again at mile 16.  I was so happy to see him, but all I could muster was a wave and a semi-defeated "I'm starting to get very tired."  I was feeling very much like I wouldn't get through the next 10 miles, but I didn't want Dan to know just how miserable I was.  Of course, he responded with a very positive, and upbeat "You look great! You're on the back-end of this!" to keep me going.

If you look again at my splits, you'll see that the wheels started coming off around mile 20, but they damn near flew off at miles 22 and 23.  That's when I allowed myself to walk...twice!  WTF?!  Even now, I'm still mad at myself for that, but at the time, it was the mental break that I needed.  There was no reason to walk; in fact, I wasn't walking any of those uphill sections, so why did I do it?  All I can say is that marathon running is as much mental as it is physical.  Looking back, I should have kept running because even going slower would've been better than walking.  The walk breaks were somewhat short, but they did add some seconds to my overall average pace. I knew I just needed to buckle down, and get 'r done!

The last few miles were pretty unscenic; you basically ran through a parking lot until you got back into the park & very near the finish line.  The last 0.2 mile, I hammered down (as much as you can after running 26 windy, hard, not flat miles).  Garmin has that small section's pace at 7:55.  Not bad.  I could see the finish line clock and knew I had done it; I finally got a time that qualified me for Boston!

Forgive the crappy text on the photo; apparently companies are smart and know if they don't watermark their pics, folks will screen shot 'em and not pay to buy 'em.  That's me literally one second away from crossing the finish line!  Melanie & Dan were both there to cheer me on and, quite frankly, keep me from falling over, falling down, or just being a spazz.  It had just barely started to sink in that I would be headed to Boston in 2017!!!!

This may be the one & only time that I ever beat RCJ in a marathon.  She was purposely keeping it easy because she's running Boston right now as I type this, a mere 8 days after running in Dallas.

After I had time to somewhat regain my composure (ie: being able to return to a semi-rational state of mind) and finished some stretching, I grabbed my phone & texted my parents (who may or may not have been tracking me on RunKeeper).  I had to screen shot the text exchange because it was just too cute!

Yes, I told them I could still walk!  :-)

It was so wonderful to be surrounded by people (near and far) who were happy for me!  I shared the news via text and email, as well as on Twitter, Instagram, and the FS Fishing Forum!

So not only did I end up with a new PR (beating my previous one by 4 minutes and 35 seconds), I was the 8th female finisher and won my age group!  Holy shit!!!!

It's now time to conclude this blog, but I hope you'll follow along on my adventure as I prepare for next year's Boston Marathon.  All of the insanity will be located at http://KimsRoadToBoston.blogspot.com/.  (What, did you expect me to not blog about this?!)  Maybe you'll even make the trip & be there on April 17th as I run one of the most iconic marathons in the world!

Grandma Made a Prediction on My Time

But I'm not going to tell you what she said until tomorrow after the race is done.  Feel free to start your own list of guesses.

 

Tomorrow's the Big Day!

Well, world, tomorrow's the big day!  Can't believe 18 weeks of training has brought me to what should take 3 hours and 40 minutes (or less) to complete!  Met a lot of nice people at today's expo, picked up my bib, and am almost ready for tomorrow!  What's left to do?  I want to lay out everything for the morning, set both of my phones so I'm 100% sure I wake up in time, have a nice, hot soak in the tub (complete with Epsom salt), and then get to bed plenty early (possibly with the help of a Tylenol PM).  I'd be thrilled to get in a full 8 hours of sleep tonight!

Thank you all so much for following along this journey!  I hope to make you all proud!!!!

One Week to Go!

Are you as excited as I am?!  Only one week to go until the big race!  Can't wait!  Got a Dr. Dan visit scheduled for tomorrow, and hope to get the thumbs up from him that I'm all set!

One Year Ago Today...

...I ran my first marathon, and it was the Southernmost Marathon in Key West!  Need a refresher?  Check this out!  Looking back, I can't believe that it was just a year ago I did that, and here I am just 2 weeks away from running my 4th marathon!

For a myriad of reasons, I think this (below) is completely appropriate.  Would you agree?

 

So How Did It Go in Miami?

The Key Biscayne Half Marathon was last Sunday, and I bet you've been wondering, "How did "Morgan" do in Miami?"  There's good news to share!  Out of 232 women who entered the race and 225 who completed it in the given time, "Morgan" was 10th out of them!  Not bad to be in the top 5% of the women who ran, huh?  Even better than that was winning the 30-34 age group and me (not Morgan) ending up with a new PR of 1:42:34.

Oh, if you're wondering how RCJ did, she ran an amazing race also and was the 2nd place overall female!  Woo hoo!  See, I told you she's a tremendously talented and hardworking runner!

I'm Headed to Miami!

Is it possible to time travel?  Could my 37 year old self spend at least a bit of time being 30 years old again?  No, this does not involve 1.21 gigawatts.  (Please, for the love of God, tell me you know that's a Back to the Future reference!)  However, it does involve an awesome friend, Morgan, and a race entry for Sunday's Key Biscayne Half Marathon.

Believe it or not, races are pretty strict about once you pay your money, you're locked in.  They don't want you selling or giving your entry away.  Hey, if you can't use it & can find someone who can & will use it, what's the harm (assuming you're not jacking up the price and being an asshole)?  Well, Morgan had signed up to do the Key Biscayne Half only to then find out that a friend was getting married that same weekend...in Wisconsin!  Morgan is many things, and one of them is an awesome friend.  So not only did she say "yes," to flying up to Wisconsin for the wedding, she also offered me her race entry!  Honestly, how cool is that?!

Here's where the time travel comes in.  Morgan can't "officially" transfer her entry to me.  No big deal.  I can pick up her race bib (because I'm such a helpful friend), and then on Sunday morning, I can just happen to pin it on myself & run.  Yes, according to the race results, I will be 30 year old Morgan from Miami!  How cool is that?

Did You Know?

Get a load of this shizz!  Apparently, I chose running over my marriage!  Huh!  Interesting, isn't it?  Especially when you consider that I run so early and am done most days before a certain someone rolls out of bed.  Yup, that's what I was told tonight.  I must be a real bastard to have a hobby that I enjoy, keeps me healthy, allows me to stay fit, and enables me to de-stress.  Yeah, that's totally it; what was I thinking?!  (May I humbly throw in a "GFY!"?  That's my version of "Can I get an "Amen" from the audience?!")

Maybe one of these days I'll take up a more sensible hobby.  Sky-diving or BASE jumping, anyone?

I'm Out of the Convertible Shoes!

This title might sound silly, but I was finally able (well, at least willing) to put on regular sneakers and stop wearing the convertibles (ie: sneakers with the tops over the big toes cut out).  I'm sure I didn't need to do that for quite so long, but a little too much time in the convertibles is probably better than a too little time in 'em where my toe starts hurting again.

Today's run had me doing 17 miles, but half of them were at marathon pace.  Since my last long run was a disaster (to me), I opted to do this one on my own for a bit of redemption.  The plan was to do the first 8 miles at a regular, slow-ish pace, then do the marathon pace for the next 8.5 miles, and finally to wind-down the last half mile.  This pretty much is how it shook out, and I'm happy about that.  Of course, the Nervous Nelly in me says, "but that was less than a third of the real distance that you'll want to cover at that pace."  Perhaps I need to tell Nervous Nelly to STFU!

If you're sitting there, reading this, and wanting proof that this was a pretty decent run, I've got your proof right here via a screen shot of my Garmin Connect info.  I'm not quite sure how/where that final full mile ended up with a 7:33 pace!  LOL!  The last one highlighted below is a combination of the half mile at marathon pace (MP) and then a slower, cool-down half mile.  I wish I could break it up to see if that 0.5 at MP was as fast as the previous mile was.

 

Today's Run: 10 Miles at Marathon Pace (MP)

After taking yesterday off and deciding to move those miles to today in order to give my toe an additional day to heal, it was time to hit the road in my "convertible" shoes.  Last year, Dr. Taub suggested that I cut a hole in the top of one sneaker that still had some life left in it.  This way, there would be no pressure on my nail.  Because the universe works in mysterious ways, this year, it's my other foot that's having a toe issue which meant cutting the other sneaker of that pair.  I did this handy-work on Friday since I knew I'd be needing the convertible at some point over the weekend.

Here's how today's run went.  The goal was to do 10 miles at marathon pace.  Of course, "marathon pace" means different things to different people, but Joan wants me shooting for times near the 8 minute per mile pace.  The humidity this morning made it tough, but I got it done!

 

Thanks, Stephanie, for this thought!

Love it!  So appropriate!  I shall make it my new motto!

 

2 Doctor's Visits in 1 Day...I Feel Old!

I certainly shouldn't have waited to see either doctor, but you know how it goes: you have pain, you think "I should see the doctor," it sort of goes away (or seems manageable), you think "I don't need to see the doctor," and then it comes back, so you (again) think, "I need to see the doctor."  Yeah, this has been me for about 2 weeks for the back of my leg and about a week for my toe.

Today, I finally had enough and decided I just needed to go; it was either go now or go later.  As Dr. John would say, "pay me now, or pay me later" in terms of addressing an injury.  (Hmmmmm, my philosophy is always that later sounds like a better idea!)  Anyway, I took a picture of my progressively-more-purple toenail & texted it to Dr. Joe Taub.  (Don't remember Dr. Taub and the work he had to do on my other foot from about a year ago?  Refresh here.)  Since Joe's a runner, I feel much better going to him because he won't be one of those doctors who say "just don't run for a few days."  I'll spare you the details on what he did, but suffice it to say that I left and felt like I could only drag my leg.

Interesting side note, when I walked into Dr. Taub's office, I was probably the youngest person in the waiting room by a good 30+ years.  I'm not sure if that made me feel really young or really old.

Later in the day, I was able to get in to see Dr. Dan, who I had not seen in a long time.  He was able to work some ART on me and get me feeling good.  So, after two different doctors, I think I'm back on track.

Today's Horoscope

From NYPost.com

I love that last part: "do it and do it brilliantly."  Well, that's what I intend to do!

Today's Run Was Not Such a Good One

If you simply saw the numbers, you'd either tell me that (a) I'm lying about the run not being a good one, (b) I'm being a bit too dramatic, or (c) I need to get my head checked.  But, as the saying goes, the devil's in the details.  Let's start with the numbers.

The original plan by RCJ had me doing 20 miles, but the route should include 4 bridges.  I mapped out this little gem ahead of time, so I knew it would end up being more like 22 miles, so I texted her to ask how terrible it would be if I did 22 miles as opposed to 20.  Her response was "not terrible!"  Ok, so my route was set, and as usual, I'd have my hydration vest, my gels, and my Nuun tabs with me.  I had breakfast & coffee before I ran, and I started nice & early to maximize whatever cool (relatively speaking) weather there would be.

The first bridge was at about mile 5-point-something, and the second one wasn't until mile 13 or so.  The next two bridges would happen between then and mile 20.  By the time I reached the third bridge, I was feeling pretty wiped, and I knew my water supply was diminishing.  I tried to keep my water intake and Gu/Nuun tab consumption at regular intervals, and I think I did, but sweet Christ, this run just was not a good one.  By mile 16 or so, I knew it was getting rough, and I bargained with myself that if I could just run to the base of the final bridge, I'd stop at a gas station, get water, and then walk.  But you know I like my nice, round numbers, and because that wasn't 20 miles, I figured I could keep going to where I was pretty sure 20 miles would fall and, as I reasoned with myself, another gas station would be.  I must've been pretty motivated to get that final mile (up to mile 20) done.  Check out how my pace changes from the previous miles!  How did I pull off a pace of 8:09 if I felt as shitty as I did?!  LOL!

The rest of the trip home was a mix of slow running (as the 8:56 and 8:51 paces show), some walking, and then a bit more shuffling (less than a mile at a 9:22 pace).

When I got back, I did something I pretty much never do: took my shoes, vest, and watch off and went right in the pool!  Yup - in all my running gear: socks, compression sleeves, and more!

I still don't know what went wrong, but days like this always make me wonder how I'm going to pull off 26.2 miles!

Today's Run Was a Good One!

If you're reading this blog, you likely know that this week sucked.  I won't be broken, and a certain someone is not going to be allowed to derail my training or stop me from reaching this next goal of mine.  (May I humbly throw in a stress-relieving "Go f*ck yourself!" right now?  Ahhhh, that feels good!)  I'd be lying if I said this week's runs were easy, but after a rest day yesterday, I'm happy that today's run was a really good one!  It has left me re-energized and looking forward to next week!  Let me fill you in.

Today's long run had me doing 16 miles with at least 6 at tempo pace.  RCJ said she'd join me, and I was looking forward to the company.  We chat most of the time, and it makes the miles fly by.  I had a pretty good route planned out.  We started out in Tradition, ran into St. Lucie West, and then swung back into Tradition to wrap things up.  I really like this route; it's got one bridge that you end up running twice, but the rest of it is pretty flat and semi-interesting.

RCJ is such an amazing runner that I'm always inspired to run with her and want to do my best.  We agreed to do 5 of the 6 tempo miles in the middle and then to make the last mile a good, fast final kick.  Check out what's below; the highlighted parts are the tempo miles.

Yeah, I was quite surprised to see a 7:20 final mile!  I knew it was fast, but if I had to guess, I don't think I would've thought it was that fast.  Cool stuff for sure that left me thinking maybe this Boston goal is do-able!

What might've been even cooler than that was the text that I got from another running friend, Stephanie.  She sent me this: "Joan posted about your fantastic run this morning on FB. Well done chica. Boston here you come!!!"  Thanks, Stephanie!  Your text means a lot to me.

Go Confidently in the Direction of Your Dreams

 

Just like Forest Gump, that's all I have to say about that.

"Running Has Taken Over Your Life"

To the above quote, I issue the following thoughts:

That's all for now.  I feel better.

"No, I didn't fall!"

I'm talking to Grandma this morning, and she asks about my run.  I said, "Oh, let me tell you about my run today."  Her immediate reply was, "You didn't fall, did you?"  Seriously, does she think I'm that uncoordinated?  (Between you & me, I know she still is of the belief that I ended up in the hospital after all those falls at DTR in April.)

No, today's run had no falls; it was pretty good (if I do say so myself).  The goal was to do 11 miles at a pace of 8:00-8:15 per mile.  Before starting the run, I figured that 8:15 was pretty do-able for this, but 8:00 probably wasn't.  I wasn't really aiming for anything in particular other than to keep it at or below 8:15.  Here's how it shook out.

When I had 7:49.8 show up after finishing mile 5, I literally let out a "whoa!"  I did try to slow myself down a bit (which is what you see from miles 5-7), but that sort of didn't last.  LOL!  It'll be interesting to see if RCJ says "great job" or if it's more along the lines of "slow the F down, woman!"

Today Is a Rest Day. No, I'm Not Kidding!

Would you believe me if I told you that the schedule for today said that it could be a rest day or an easy 5 miles, and I chose a rest day?  No, I don't believe it either, but it's true!  Why?  Well, last week had me running every day from Tuesday up through & including Sunday.  This week's schedule has me running on Monday & Tuesday, and had I not taken a rest day today, I would have kept going until Saturday.  As it was, last week's running days and the first two days of this week meant I had run 8 days in a row.  I do love running (probably as much as I don't like boring rest days), but I know my bones & muscles need the rest which is why I opted to take the rest day.  In the big picture, not doing an optional easy 5 miler won't make or break my training...

2 Months to Go!

Just 2 months to go!  That may sound like a lot of time, but it'll go by pretty quickly.  I'm getting super excited!!!

I Am the World's Worst (or Laziest) Blogger

Feel free to call "BS" on this one, but I really have had "update blog" on my to-do list for the last month.  Things like running, working, sleeping, eating, and being a lazy SOB have been higher on the priority list for me.  What can I say other than now's a great time to catch up, right?  The significance of tomorrow, exactly 2 months to race day, is not lost on me.  Let's hop to it!

Running Coach Joan, RCJ, has been awesome, and always keeps my running moving forward with weekly plans that work around my sometimes crazy schedule (like me telling her that I was headed to the Bahamas & couldn't run on a Friday or Saturday).

Week 5 was where I left you; that had me doing 56 miles.  Leading up to my official training with RCJ, many of my weeks were in the mid-50s for mileage, so this felt like home.  

Week 6 was July 27th to August 2nd, and it had me hitting 60 miles which is something I might've done only once or twice (probably just once) while running un-coached.  It felt good to hit the 60 mile mark!  (I'm still in awe of some people on the Runners' World online forum who routinely have 70, 80, 90, and even 100+ miles each week; how do they have time for that?!  I'm seriously impressed by anyone who can do that & whose job is not to run.) 

Week 7 was August 3rd to the 9th, and it was a doozy; this was the week where Dave and I would be taking the boat to West End.  Knowing that I would not be able to get in any runs there, I asked Joan to set up the schedule whereby I'd run all days leading up to & including the day we left (Thursday), have no running on Friday and Saturday, and then run on the day we returned (Sunday).  This was not an ideal setup namely because you can imagine how tiring it is to run 10 miles before leaving on a 2+ hour boat ride to the Bahamas and then, on the day we return (after a 4+ hour ride back due to stopping to fish along the way and having 2 hours of clean-up at the marina in the blazing afternoon sun) to have to do 10 miles on a treadmill (where each mile gets progressively faster than the previous one).  I was beat even though this week was "only" 55 miles!

Week 8 was August 10th to the 16th and had a rest day on Monday (thank sweet baby Jesus).  It's also a week that would have me back up into the 60s with 63-64 miles on the schedule (yeah!).  It was also the first time that I'd have a 20 mile long run in more than 8 weeks.  My last 20+ mile run was actually before I started working with RCJ.  Tuesday through Sunday would be running days, and with Joan back in town from her adventures out west, I got to run with her on Wednesday and Saturday.  I'd be fibbing if I said I wasn't nervous about the 20 miler.  The plan called for 20 miles (anything from an 8-9 minute per mile pace) but at least 5 miles of "tempo" running (meaning a pace of 8 or less).  Joan & I ran about 12 miles together, and then I was on my own for the last 8.  I picked up the pace around mile 12.5, but since my watch gives me per mile breakdowns on the pace, I decided to officially start the tempo run at mile 13.  Figuring I'd go from mile 13 to 18 at this faster pace, I just sort of dealt with it being semi uncomfortable.  The funny thing is that when I got to 18 miles, I figured, "what the hell?  I'll just do one more mile at tempo."  Then, I get to 19 miles and think "why would I slow down for the last mile?"  LOL!  Then, I get to mile 20, but I'm still about a half mile from my car, so I "slow down" to (what I later find out was) an 8:12 pace and wrap up the run.

Last week, week 9, was August 17th to the 23rd.  Again, Monday was a rest day which worked out well because I had to be down in Broward for school meetings.  It was another 60+ mile week, and I ran with Joan on Friday and Saturday.  Here's one of the many reasons Joan cracks me up.  She really is so humble about her running.  Saturday's long run had 15 miles to do with at least 5 at tempo pace.  She said, before we started, that she didn't know if she had 5 miles of tempo pace in her, but she'd see how she felt, and if she didn't think she could do it, I'd just run ahead.  (The "if she didn't think she could do it" is the hysterical part; my tempo pace is a totally do-able not-so-tempo-pace for Joan!)  So we get to mile 9, and she says let's pick up the pace and see how it goes.  Well, I was aiming for something not too far under a pace of 8, but I know we're running faster than that.  First tempo mile pace?  7:46!  Second mile pace?  7:38!  Christ!  This is fast!  (Can you imagine me saying "I think I can, I think I can..."????)  After that, it was 7:39, 7:37, and 7:32!  Holy moly!  When we finally slowed down, the remaining paces were 7:49 and 7:51.  Crazy how that feels slow after putting down some miles in the 7:30-range!

Today begins week 10.  Had 9 easy miles today.  Tomorrow will be 9 tougher miles or, as RCJ puts it, 9 miles of an "effort run."  Oh my!

 

Exactly 3 Months Until Race Day!

Are you getting excited?!

In Case You're Wondering...

I know you probably know better than this, but I also know that there are some people out there who may be thinking, "ok, once she gets her BQ and is able to run Boston, she'll be done."  If this is you, or if you think you know who this might be, the answer is "definitely not."  I find it quite ironic that a certain someone who is generally annoyed by my running decides to inquire if any of my upcoming races will qualify me for Boston.  My prediction is that this person assumes (completely incorrectly, by the way) that if the Marine Corps Marathon goes well, I'll be done once I run Boston (which, by the way, probably won't be until 2017).  Perhaps by then, I'll be on to some new hobby.  (BASE jumping, anyone?)  What said person also doesn't know is that Hans has already mentioned me, Morgan, and him running the Two Oceans 56k in South Africa that year.  So many races...so little time!