The Tosk, a species bred to be hunted, took a vow of silence to never reveal details about the sport for which they were born to be pursued, fight and then die in. They had no identity other than that of hunted creature and they had no individual names. “I am Tosk,” they would say in greeting when meeting another individual.
I am not Tosk.
I have at times felt like prey but that is not truly the case.
And I have most certainly not taken a vow of silence. I have been absent from my own blog because I haven’t been racing. I haven’t really been running very much either, except for short distances a few mornings per week. And there has certainly been little worthy of note for me to report here. But I am breaking the silence nonetheless.
I have been “training” for a race, although I am woefully behind in the requisite miles, but there is no doubt I will complete it with relative ease and enjoyment.
The Hatfield-McCoy Reunion Marathon and Half will take place on June 8 in Kentucky and West Virginia, and I am registered for the half. I’m really excited about going because this will give me two more states to tick off my bucket list. And after having seen the History Channel’s Hatfield-McCoy miniseries, I am more psyched than ever about this locus of American history that has fascinated me since the days of early childhood.
Another 50-state blogger, TRex Runner, wrote about the Hatfield-McCoy race last year and it piqued my interest because it covered two states. I was Googling for races that run in multiple states when I came across her blog. After seeing the photos and reading the story, I was determined to run it “someday”. Upon watching the mini-series, I decided to run it at the next possible opportunity. So here we are.
As for my non-training:
The furthest distance run in 2013 thus far has been 7.68 miles and that was well over a month ago. There’s been no cross-training really either. I haven’t lifted a weight, done a crunch, or active isolated stretched in I-don’t-know-how-long. My bicycle is parked with flat tires. And yoga might as well have been a bear that hung around with Booboo. I am a total slacker this year. I’m just working too damned much. I haven’t raced since Hawaii either.
The lifesucking obstacles that sprang up over the past year are mostly still in play. The tax audit is over (and came out in my favor), but the ongoing conversion from paper charts to electronics at work is still killing me. I’m working two extra weekend jobs—along with my underwhelming private practice—to pay off business loans I took out. And the damned winter still hasn’t really left yet. It was 40 degrees one morning last week! My misery quotient, being already filled with everything else, just hasn’t permitted as much outdoor wretchedness as my long-abandoned training plan called for.
So those are my excuses.
What *am* I going to do in the next eleven days to prepare for this race? Hopefully run/walk about 9-10 miles tomorrow if it isn’t raining buckets again. I will likely get in some hillwork on the treadmill at least once or twice (so the notorious one mile ascent and descent of Blackberry Mountain that comprises miles 6-7 won’t kill me). And whatever else I can muster between now and June 7 when I begin my road trip southward.
Yes, I shall be quite unprepared for this half-marathon but I do intend to make it fun. Instead of seeing the other runners as predators who will best me with their speed and leave me to shamefully struggle in their dust, I’m going to show up happy and take every mile however it comes. I am just glad to be racing instead of working no matter how it turns out.
It is not a hunt. I am not Tosk.
Boldly running where I've never gone before 