No Vacation for the Islets of Langerhans

Good morning Fanerinos of the Coot. Two days left until the weekend, two days left until the rain starts. Wicked awesome. The hurricane is fittin' to make landfall in S. Carolina I hear, which pretty much guarantees us some really delicious weather. Ooooweeeee! Enough of that, you guys know how I feel about it from yesterday's Cranky Corner®.

Last night was the final race in the Live on the Lake Race Series. My gams were aching from my previous two days of running (two consecutive 10-milers) so I thought I'd take it easy and just enjoy the run. As it turned out I still had a pretty good time, not a PB (personal best), but a good run nonetheless. After the race we had a little pot luck dinner complete with awards for a variety of different categories. Prizes were coupons for free tubs of Edy's Ice Cream; a low-key race series indeed.

Due to the point system and the fact that there's a kid in my age group who consistently whipped my ass, I was way out of the running (no pun intended) for winning my age group. I did receive an award for perfect attendance, so a tub of Moose Tracks will soon find its way into my freezer; not that I wouldn't have a tub of it anyway, but at least now it'll be free.

The pot luck dinner was fun. There were obviously two schools of thought when it came to deciding what to bring. People like me wanted to make sure there was plenty of high-carb items to help replenish the energy spent during the race. The other group of people concentrated on vegetables, fruit and salsa/guacamole. Then there were some sandwiches donated by Price Chopper. I had some of everything, including a chocolate chip cookie that I smothered in peanut butter fudge. Man was that good! I think I tore my pancreas a new one last night (a bit of a stretch, but the Islets of Langerhans - which generate insulin - are part of the pancreas and I ate a lot of sugar so my body was calling for a lot of insulin).

So now that the summer race series has come to an end, I need to find a way of filling my Wednesday evenings. God forbid I should start acting like a real person and clean my house, cook dinner, wash clothes and so on during the week. That crap is for the last minute, like when someone's on their way over to your house and your kitchen is a mess. Nope, I'm talking about some other outdoor activity. My original thought was to just keep running the race every week whether anyone else showed up or not (which they wouldn't). I'd be in prime shape next year, that's for damn sure.

In other news, I think I'm readjusting the paradigm for my "Doubling of the Miles" race this year. I put out a request on my favorite running message board for illogical reasons not to run a marathon. Here are a few of the responses:

Dude, you are seriously going to wreck your knees running that much, especially if you are increasing mileage like that as you get older. I would switch to eating your equivalent age in bbq ribs every year. This will save your knees and taste a lot better.

In all seriousness here's why you shouldn't run the 26.2 miles:
I assume that you can run 4 minute miles
There are about 8766 hours per year
That's 131490 miles you can cover in one year
But according to your current plan, in 9 years you'll be needing to run about 13414.4 miles.

Which presents the problem that it'll be your birthday again! So, (illlogical jump) you shouldn't run 26.2 miles this year. Best of luck.

After running 26.2 miles, hair stops growing on your head and instead starts coming out in places like your ears, nose, eyebrows and back.

Your teeth turn yellow.

You start saying things like " When I was your age ......"

You start prefering oldies radio over current music

People you don't know start calling you " sir ".

Okay, so those were some good suggestions. I think I'm going to take suggestion #1 and modify it a little. I'll half the distance I did last year (approximately) and run a 10K, and at the same time I'll try to set a PB at the 10K distance. Now I can have my achievable race and still turn it into a competition.

In other news, I feel like crap today. Between the weather effing with my body and the 18 lbs of sugar I ate yesterday, and the 2 lbs of sugar I've already had today, I think I'm in for a world of hurting. I'm sure coffee will help steady the pulse and settle the stomach.

Over and Out,
Old Coot