Have you ever tried broccoli in a green smoothie? Don’t. It tastes about as good as it sounds. No, it’s not obvious. While both spinach and avocado seem to transform green smoothies for the better, broccoli was just all gritty and... ugh.
So at some point earlier in the year I decided that four races in 5 weeks would be a good idea. Let’s see.
We are going to warm up with the Death Race. Two weeks later, a 25km trail race from hell with almost three thousand feet of elevation done twice. A week later, Toronto Spartan Beast. And another week later, Ottawa Spartan Beast.Yeah. Awesome. In fact, I'm a little surprised that I didn't have an IronMan scheduled in there somewhere as an active recovery day.
My hamstring pretty much told me to fuck off after the trail race. I skipped the swim during the week to give the legs a bit of a break, but nevertheless the leisurely 2.5 mile trail run ended in a pathetic limp.
Finally, on Saturday I decided to pull out of the Toronto Beast, and leave Ottawa Beast at a "firm maybe". By "decided", I mean I oscillated between "yes-i'm-racing", "no-i'm-not", "yes-i-am-absolutely-racing", and "no-freaking-way-in-hell" more times than I care to count. The fact that I needed to be at the event to cover it for Get Out There magazine, did not make things any easier. I even wore racing gear on Sunday.
Italian was very skeptical about me showing up to the start line, and actually not racing. But I finalized the decision by packing enough fuel for few hours of hiking around the course, but not enough to race. No matter how stupid/stubborn I can be - that was it. No way I'd start a long course without proper hydration and fuel.
And so yesterday, for the first time in my life, I was at an obstacle race without racing. What an experience that was... Let's just say that I got to do some things I usually do not get to do when I race...
Hint:
Signing off,
SOLO