Sunday, December 16, 2012

Full Speed Ahead!

I slept in this morning.  LATE.  Melissa went to run some errands and I got up and wandered downstairs like I normally do to check on the world... I sat down at my desk and I realized that I had totally forgotten today was the day for the Hardrock 100 Lottery.  Crap!

When I started monitoring Twitter, they had just finished the Veteran Lottery and were just starting to do the Never-Started Lottery (my group).  I wasn't selected.  Nobody that I knew who had never ran Hardrock was selected either.  It was brutal.  I am 29th on the wait list which means nothing really, I might as well be 100 on the list. 

Call it rationalization, call it sour grapes but I am damned glad that I am registered for Leadman, have been for nearly two months and I am training towards that goal.  I've had the Hardrock letdown enough to know what that feels like all to well and I am damned glad that I am not one of the ones putting their plans on hold just for the outcome of this one lottery.  I get an extra ticket, Great. Better luck to me next year.

But this just fuels my disenchantment for Hardrock even more so... not the fact that I was not selected but damned near none of my friends (except for two) made it in, and another is on the wait list and probably will get in.  Then there are those who were selected that statistically if you did a sampling based solely on location who completely and absolutely defy the odds of getting in.  I shake my head in disbelief.

Do I want to do Hardrock?  Yes. Someday. But before I think I ever get a chance some things with the lottery will have to change (not likely) or the number of applicants goes down (even less likely) so that being said I will always view Hardrock as a novelty race, a distraction, and something just out of the norms of everyday events. 

Okay enough of that... Congrats to JT who is going back for his fifth trip.  Jack Kurisky, whom I had the pleasure of meeting during a long run on the Appalachian Trail two years ago, and to Neal Taylor who is on the wait list and is sure to get in.  I just wish I had more friends to congratulate and cheer on who got in.  Again... maybe next year.

The diet is going well.  I had two social episodes (Holiday Parties) where I had to be a little more diligent than usual and to be honest I did my best following the intent of the diet rather than letter of the diet.  Though some things might not have been completely clean (such as meatloaf) I am still happy knowing that I kept away and did not have anything worse than that.   And the best news of all is that I have not had a soda (except for that one last week) at all.  Now that is progress.

Training has gone well this week.  Lots of riding.  I also got my bike fitted at Pro Cycling and I can say it is way more comfortable now based on Saturday and today's ride.  I am really enjoying the biking more and more.  But the totals for this week are sort of modest... Six hours and forty five minutes of cycling and two hours and nineteen minutes of running.

Right now my biggest complaint about cycling in the winter is that my damned feet get so cold.  Even with two pairs of socks on.

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