SHT #2

Met Wynn at 5am this morning at Split Rock and hung out for while until it got bright before we set off for Finland. I was thinking 40 miles but before long had calulated it was going to be 45! Oh well, too late now...

I wasn't sure how I'd feel given my average 5hrs sleep a night this week and a 115 mile bike ride on Thursday but it went surprisingly well! I hope I didn't slow Wynn down too much but it was great to have company and I know I wouldn't have kept up as good a pace had I been out there by myself. This section of the course was pretty rough in places but overall I found it better than I'd been expecting. Some very runnable sections but these were interspersed with plenty of hills. Indivually the climbs were not so bad but after a few hours of continuous ups and downs it became a bit head wrecking. Still, I am glad to have a better idea of what to expect in September. Crap it's like 4 weeks yesterday!!!

Hoping to run the first 5 miles from Gooseberry to Split Rock in the morning - my OCD nature making me want to complete the 100 mile course - albeit over the course of a few days, spaced out by a few years :)

However, I bashed up my knee pretty well on my third fall of the day so will have to see how that is. Went straight off a boardwalk about 3 miles from the finish. Totally asleep. Will need to be a bit more careful on the big day. But great news on the foot - didn't feel a thing! I am really surprised as I was expecting to deal with some pain at least. But it's exactly the same as it was this morning - hurts a little when I press hard at the base of my middle toe but that's about it. No bruising. No swelling. Happy out.

Still not sure what shoes I'll go with for the race. I wore the Asics (Gel Trail Attack) today and they felt good. I'd been planning to wear the Montrails (Continental Divide) for the race as I think they do have a bit more support/cushioning but maybe I will go with the Asics for the first half anyway and see how they feel.

Anyway, we made it back to Finland just after 3:30pm, 10 hours on the move, and had time to stretch before Angela & Rosie picked us up - which was a good thing as my PT has been giving me a hard time about never stretching! Got back to our luxurious cabin (decided we deserved a treat so we're staying at the Grand Superior Lodge - neat spot) and I sat in Lake Superior for a while. Only managed about 10 minutes this time around, and that was with a mug of coffee in each hand. I must have looked a strange sight! Felt good though, especially on my ankles as they took a bit of a beating today on the gnarly terrain. After a mega hot shower we sat down to a huge feast off the grill. Thanks Ang! And a few beers to wash it down. Nice evening relaxing with the girls - complete with a very competitive game of scrabble!

Hope the night runners had a good time up here. Just as we were approaching Two Harbors yesterday evening I drove past this car... ok so I was speeding a little and doing some zigzagging through traffic... next thing the car pulled back up alongside me - I thought they were going to give out to me but then I saw Steve waving out the window!!

Seriously need to catch up on sleep this week. But a busy work week and visitors from home is not exactly conducive to early nights... but I can't complain, at least not about the visitors.

end of post.