Competitive Period done and in the books!

It's hard to believe, but the 12 weeks of intense, long and highly difficult training during the competitive period is done and over. I have officially begun the 2 weeks of tapering to get ready for race day.

For weeks my training volume has been as high as 20 hours per week, two workouts each day guaranteed and now I am cutting down to 10 hours this week and a mere 4 hours the final week. I have made it through relatively unscathed (with the exception of major skunk scare, more on that in a moment) , injury free and with my marriage intact. Angie deserves a medal, that is for sure!!

I'm fired up to get to Madison. I know it is going to be a VERY long day but I also know I can do it and I'm anxious to get out there. I can't wait to meet that person who will inspire me, amaze me or even be the one who needs a little encouragement to keep going. My brother Doug and his wife Sue are heading out to support me and cheer me on. What an awesome thing it is to have an older brother willing to go that far to show you he loves you.

Before I sign off for the week, I have to tell you the skunk story. Most of you probably already know that I have had my run In's with these white striped vermin. In Minnesota, while running near my home, I happened upon Pepe La Pue's brother and was sprayed from the waist down. Trust me when I tell you it is the most disgusting thing in the world and I know from experience, tomato juice does not work.

While running in Chicago, not far from work, I had one cross in front of me about 10 feet away with it's stupid butt sticking straight up in the air ready to give me a shot. I jumped about 5 feet in the air, spun around in mid flight, yelped like a scared little girl and took off in the opposite direction as fast as I could run!

Well this week, I'm doing my morning run before heading off to work with the Branch Manager in Roseburg, Oregon. Roseburg in nestled along the Umpqua river and is really a beautiful place. It's about 5:30 in the morning, dark and I'm running around this park on a 3.5 mile paved trail. I don't have my headphones on because I believe it's dangerous to run with them in the dark while in a foreign place. Anyway, I have my headlight on, it's shining in front of me (because I also have a tendency to trip on the slightest obstacle in my way) and I'm cognizant of this ever present skunk danger, being very careful to cast a wide light in front of me, when all of a sudden I hear the unmistakable sound of a critter being spooked. I whip my head around to see what it was and right there, not 5 feet from my left side is a @!#$%^$# skunk! It's butt and tail are sticking straight up and he hisses at me and I just FREAK! Luckily he was facing me and didn't have a chance to spin around and spray me but I think I blacked out for a second because I don't remember much after that.

It's unbelievable isn't it. I mean, how many people do you know that have ever been sprayed by a skunk? What are the odds? I have not only have I been sprayed but now I have had two close calls! I'm going to start carrying my supplies for getting rid of skunk spray just in case. Sheeessh, all I'm trying to do is stay in shape!


Ok, that's it....time to recover and rest for the remainder of the day. Take care everybody!