October

Or really, almost November. Fall flies, doesn't it? Too bad, because it's a great season. I'm a Libra, of course I love these months.


Let's see... I left you before the Midnight 50K in July. That one wasn't pretty. The only conclusion that I've come to is that the more I try to hone my hydration and energy processes, the harder I seem to crash. The Midnight 50 ended in some vomiting, alot of walking, me feeling stupid, etc. Oh, well... it's not July anymore, other things have come and gone.


Namely...



I did the Twin Cities marathon in October. It didn't disappoint. The last couple of months have been hectic (starting the school year both as a staff member and as a student), as well as fall fun-stuff (football games, kickball league...). So I treated myself and didn't train. I mean, I worked enough to keep my fitness base and make sure I could cover the distance. But I wasn't making myself miserable over the course of 3 months for a mere 10 or 15 minutes on a finisher's certificate. And the perfect excuse to not care where you finish... costume, of course!


You may recognize the Spoonbridge and Cherry sculpture from the Walker Art Institute in Minneapolis. This was actually an ideal running costume, as the spoon was polyester and very light, and the bulk was on top, leaving my body fairly unhindered. Ringing in my ears is a thick Minnesota accent drawling, "ooooo, it's the spoooooon!" (heavy accent on the o's... you know how it sounds). I had quite a few of shouts of "Go, Art!" and "Yeah, Minneapolis!". I also had a couple of sperms, an ice cream cone, and an R2D2. The 3:53 finish was a little slow for me, but even worse for all those folks who got beat by the spoon!

(can you see the stem on top?)

I also did some international traveling and my best impression of a desperate doctoral student trying to finish a dissertation. A good fall, so far. The meds seem to be holding for now. I'm at 7mgs of Prednisone and dropping 1mg/month. Last time things got hairy around 3 or 4. We will see!