Mine Your Step

Well it is just two days until the Mother Road 100 - Part & a real test to push my boundaries. I am anxious, excited, scared & everything in between. Have I trained enough? Have I spent enough time preparing? Am I ready? I believe that the answer is obviously NO. We are never truly ready to step outside our comfort zone but that is just it, we need to know the feeling of crossing the boundaries, to feel the exhilaration of overcoming a previously set limitation or boundary.

For the past several months, I have been running & preparing. Unfortunately my job takes me out of the USA so I cannot always get in that important "long run" every week. Last week was one of those times. I had been in Egypt for 10 days & was approximately 5 Km from the Red Sea. What a view & what a chance to run along the Red Sea; to stand where Moses had stood (or at least close). I asked the guys at the camp where I was working where to go & they pointed to graded dirt road that curved around & supposedly went all the way to the Read Sea.

Just before heading out, they ran over & told me to make sure to stay on the graded road. I wasn't sure so I asked "Why?". Well, back during the war between Egypt & Israel, this area contained many land mines (Yikes!). The area that had not been graded may still contain un-exploded mines! That will surely put a crimp in your running, eh? Well, I took off & after about a kilometer or so, the road seemed to fade away. Visions of missing limbs (my limbs) came to mind & rather than try to find where the road actually went, I quickly turned around & headed back. What's a few dozen 1 km loops back & forth. Oh well, so much for a good last long run before MR100.

My next blog entry should be very interesting as I will be able to share my experience of "going the distance" & "knowing no boundaries."

God Bless You.