Last year I did one of those 11 mile obstacle mud runs. It was a super hot day and a very hilly course. The hills were the most grueling part of it, more so than the obstacles. But I was happy to have finished, even if I had to skip the 10' walls that I just couldn't get over. They hired a firm to photograph the event. I posed for several pictures with my team for the photographers, plus they had others around the course taking candid shots of the participants. After the photos were released, I excitedly looked up my participant number and found absolutely nothing. No candid shots, and none of the posed shots with my team. My husband even took a few days sifting through the thousands of unclaimed (i.e. your race number was too dirty to read) photos, trying to find a single shot of me with no luck. It sounds silly, but I was so disappointed. I had visions of some cool photo of me snaking through the mud that I could frame with my race number and be like "yeah, I did that!", but nothing. Sign ups are open this year and I've been on the fence about doing it again. It sounds silly, but trudging up those hills in 95 degree heat, getting beat up and bruised, and having no photos to remember the event by kind of sucked. Not in a regretful way, I'm glad I did it, but more in a "maybe one time was enough" kind of way.
So on to the next thing. My sister is running her first half-marathon in October and I'm just about ready to join her. I finished my longest run to-date today, at 6.56 miles. It was supposed to be 6 miles today, then something in my head said, "hey, you're almost halfway there, just knock out that extra half mile", and I did. My overall time isn't great- I came in at 11 1/2 minutes per mile, still a few too many walking breaks, but it's progress. The better times will come with more practice and better endurance. Today's run being over an hour, I brought one of those gel pack snacks with me. They aren't bad- but I would still like to try making something myself if possible. I can't explain why, but the miser part of me kind of balks at paying $1.50+ for each of those silly little things that are basically just sugar, salt, artificial flavors and preservatives. My plan is to start experimenting- and post anything here that works. Cheaper, healthier- I'm up for that!
Til next time... :)
