14 Mile Ride in the Corning Preserve
Saturday, September 15, 2007
After a grey, rainy morning, we had a gorgeous sunny (but windy afternoon) - perfect for a short ride to get the blood moving in my legs. They felt pretty good, and I had to exercise a certain amount of self-control to not hammer out 20 miles or more... both because I felt like I had extra energy to burn (hope that's the case tomorrow!) and to relieve some anxiety over tomorrow...
It's interesting how the change in the weather can make a difference in how people spend their time... all the stores I went to this afternoon were fairly crowded, and the Corning Preserve was pretty quiet. The waterfront park was the most remarkable contrast of all - during the summer, it's always crawling with people having huge picnics and cookouts, while today it was practically deserted.
As I was riding, I think I finally figured out why I'm feeling a bit stressed about tomorrow's race (besides that nagging suspicion that I didn't train enough.) Ultimately, there are three possible outcomes:
- I conquer the Adirondack Marathon and cross the finish line having run most of the race at a reasonably good pace.
- The Adirondack Marathon and I reach an uneasy truce, I end up walking much of the latter part of the course, and stagger across the finish line after being on the course quite a bit longer than I wanted to.
- The Adirondack Marathon chews me up and spits me out, and the nice race people give me a ride to the finish so I can limp home to lick my wounds.
Of course, option #1 is what I'm hoping will happen! But options #2 & #3 are definite possibilities, and both would leave me with unfinished business in Schroon Lake... after three attempts to do this race, I guess in many ways I want to be done with it. I want to enjoy the experience (in a sick, torturous kind of way) and then move on to other goals and other races.
At least by this time tomorrow I'll know how it all turned out!
JMH
