The miracle on Halloween

Remember that 20 mile "do-over" I had planned for this past weekend? Well, I did it. Through sheer stubbornness and determination, I was able to pull off perhaps what can only be described as the miracle on Halloween. Just goes to show, you never know when you'll have to heave that hail mary pass so you always have to be ready. Let's get right into the story. 

Friday morning I went out for an easy ride out to Hawaii Kai which took nearly 2 hours all because I couldn't shift my rear derailleur and was reduced to spinning on one gear each on my big and small chain rings. No big deal, other than looking funny pedaling faster than I was moving, I made it back home safely and in time for work. So the weekend plans looked like this– Art After Dark on Friday, Saturday afternoon long run, then the downtown block party that evening. I had every intention of keeping it mellow on Friday, well aware that I had a 20 mile run to do the very next day. EPIC fail. Mellow turned out to be several servings of beer, wine, shots, and moving the party over to Pearl to end the night. Man, I was done! Got up the next morning feeling like crap with a pounding headache and thinking to myself, I'm so screwed. 

Fist pumping @ Art After Dark.

After getting some much needed breakfast of a 3-egg omelette and rice and guzzling glasses of Gatorade and orange juice, I went right back to bed for a 3 hour nap. Woke up around 1pm feeling better but still with a slight headache and overall tiredness. But, after munching on a turkey sandwich and some chips, I felt much better and was ready to take on the road! Luckily the weather was fairly overcast so it didn't heat up too much especially since by the time I was out the door, it was 4pm. Even still, I came prepared and strapped on my FueltBelt hydration belt with 20 ounces of EFS, 2 packs of Powerbar gel, a GU Roctane, and a couple of Endurolytes. And so I started my run...

I started off very cautiously and was at the mercy of my hung over body's demands. By some miracle, muscle memory both in terms of forgetting all the crap I put into my body the night before and remembering how it feels to run on a properly fueled body came through. By no means was I jumping up and down celebrating as each sub 7-minute mile ticked by. In fact, I was pretty sure that I'd run straight into the wall somewhere in Kahala and would somehow have to bus it back. But alas, 2 hours and 17 minutes later of paranoia, I made it back home. 20 miles in 2:17 @ 6:53/mi. hours after nursing my morning hangover. Now that's what I call a Halloween treat!

Needless to say, Saturday night was very low key. Not only was I sore, tired, and dehydrated, I was still traumatized from all the alcohol from the night before. NEVER again. I'm pretty sure I only get a few of these "pass go, collect $200" passes so I really have to choose my battles.

Clark Kent and Pauly D striking a pose at the downtown block party, Hallowbaloo.