AM- I've had sleeping issues recently- no matter how tired I am, I wake up before my alarm. For example, I fell into bed at midnight last night, exhausted and hoping to sleep until at least 8. Instead, I was wide awake well before 6 am, so pounded out my run. One day this week, I woke up at 4:30 am, 90 min before my alarm. I have decided that my body will not sleep in past 6. 77 deg with 87% humidity this morning before sunrise. I didn't even bring a shirt. 7 miles in new shoes- they feel great, except they really hurt my toe. Of course, all of my shoes except 2 inflict undue amounts of pain on my toenail area and swollen, red toe knuckle. Fortunately, as long as I can grunt through the pain, my toe usually goes numb after 30 min. Usually, but not always. The doctor recommended to rest my toe as much as possible as running will prolong healing. Yup, he's right. At least it gets a 46 hour rest now, the longest since my surgery. I want to tell everyone about my next race and demonstrate how sick ultra runners and RD's are. First, make a 35 mile race course. Put it over the most challenging terrain in South and North Carolina, through poison ivy, yellow jacket, wild boar, and bear-infested country. Then, make sure it is so remote that there are no roads within 5 miles of the course, other than the start and finish at trailheads. Yup, no DNF on this one- you drag your butt out one way or another, or die trying. Then, don't offer any aid stations or other help of any kind. And no course markers. Oh, and do it in the middle of August. Let me repeat that: 35 miles in August in South Carolina with NO aid stations. What do you get? A 17 year old race that sells out every year. Yes, we all paid good money to partake of this experience. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the Laurel Valley 35 mile race, next Saturday. One interesting fact- there are 55 entrants, and only 3 are younger than me.
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