We registered ages ago for last weekend’s Stowe 8 Miler in Vermont – pre-freaky heatwave and pre-Mad Half Marathon walk, in which I may or may not have done major damage to my big toenail by wearing shoes that were too snug for extreme downhill race-walking. Had I known that the heat and the toe disaster were going to happen, I may have decided that running eight miles, a distance I had never attempted, was not such a wise move.
But I couldn’t not do it. My reputation (as someone who pays the entry fee and shows up on time) was at stake. This event certainly gave me The Fear though. Mostly because eight miles is really freaking far. Also, because Vermont has never met a hill it didn’t like.
LARGE road race!
I was supposed to be much further ahead in my half-marathon training schedule by this point, but as most of you know, that ship has sailed. I was buoyed by my not-totally-crap showing at the Mad Half the week before, but seeing as that was a walk and this was not, The Fear remained.
Stride and Joy 