A New Dream

Besides the Big Hill Challenge, I have other dreams for the fall and winter. Of late I have been pondering a rematch with the Great Noxapater Journey Run (see "Pulling the Trigger" 12/16/13, and "And Shooting Myself in the Leg" 12/19/13 for a write up of my epic failure on my last multi-day attempt). Actually, I am thinking of several journey runs, maybe intermediate steps to the GNJR Part II. Yesterday my wife and I went to Jackson to purchase some biking shoes. It's either that or the Heart O' Dixie is out because my old shoes, and I mean old, locked up on me and I had great difficulty extracting them from my feet from them. Huh? I don't have the word skills to explain what happened, but it really was buy new shoes or be out of the race. So I bought new shoes, a bottom end model. But they will work.

Before we left town, I settled on driving a different route because my brain was already starting to explode with thoughts, dreams. I hatched another possible journey run. I could go out Humphrey Highway to my father-in-laws in Carroll County and overnight with him. Day two would be Highway 430 to Black Hawk and then on the Vaiden via the long, lonely county highway where I could secure lodging for a night. On the third day, I could make my way to Highway 407 via Vaiden Road and then shuffle into Winona for a sleep at a local motel. Day Four could be all the way back to Greenwood, or half way there maybe staying at Seldom Seen if I could secure reservations for a night. So that is either a four or a five day trip of somewhere around 100 miles (I'll go back later and measure). Since it would start and stop at home, that will solve one major logistical problem of having someone pick me up at the end of the journey. The more I think about this, the more excited I become, more so than the thoughts of the GNJR. 

It's on.

Besides the logistical simplicity of starting and ending in the same place, I could take supplies to Carroll County in advance. That will help out on one major problem I had in my earlier failed attempt: my pack was way too heavy. Not only that, but right now I am more fit than then, and I still have training time left. In addition to all that, if I do this during the Thanksgiving Break, the weather will be a bit warmer, so I will need fewer clothes further reducing my pack size and weight. 

It's on.

Training starts Monday.

My recent emphasis on weight training and the Big Hill Challenge do not need to be set aside. They, in fact, will factor nicely into training for a five-day run. I will, however, make a renewed effort at big mileage weeks and long runs. Pace may suffer, but what is that compared to fun?