I just flew back from Las Vegas, and moving a little slow right now. A quick shout out to my mom, Grandma Wide-Body, for looking after the little Wide-Bodies while the wife and I had an extended weekend in Las Vegas. THANK YOU!!!

I'm kinda dragging, feeling a little slow, trying to catch up. I have pictures from the marathon, and I will post them this week. There are stories to be told, and one of them is below.

My performance in the Las Vegas Marathon was awful. I was doing well through 16 miles, ahead of my pace, and feeling pretty good. ANd then the wheels fell off.....

I actually felt good through 13 miles. Then I started to have some foot and hip pain. I thought that was odd because I had trained enough times with distances over 13 miles that I didn't expect to start having pain then. It was a flat course, so there was none of the hard foot falls that come with going downhill, and so I told myself to just shake it off and run through the pain. That worked until about 17 miles, when the feet and hips started to throb. I noticed that myride tightened up, and no matter how hard I tried, I could not loosen up my  shoulders or my legs so that I could have a smooth flowing gait. At mile 21, My right foot felt like it was on fire, and frankly, I was a little worried about taking off my shoe because I was a little afraid of what I would see. From 22-26.2, my stride was so bad that I ended up dragging my right heel of the downward step. Of my three marathons, this was the most pain I have exerienced in a run.

But, I didn't quit, and I will not quit. Actually seeing other folks quit and start walking helped motivate me. I believe a lot of athletes, at least those who are competitve, have a mean streak in them. I don't want to imply that this is bad, just the opoosite, as the mean streak can be the difference making in your ability to succeed. The mean streak shows itself by having the attitude never backing down from a challenge, never allowing oneself to be beaten. If you have a mean streak and you are beaten, your opponent will know they won a hard fight and they will think twice before tangling with you again. Think of boxers Arturo Gatti or Mickey Ward; really good and exceptionally tough fighters. Arturo and Mickey didn't win every fight, but when they lost, their opponent usually looked just as bad they did. I was blessed with a mean streak. I inherited it from my mom. Seriously, ask any of my friends, they tell you about my mom. Mean woman. 

So, I'm running, hurting like hell, and there is a part of me saying, "Dude, this sucks. Take a breather, walk a while". Then the mean side says, "You are such a pussy. Crying is cold comfort". The mean streak won when tow things happened; 1) I realized that I couldn't tell folks I was running a marathon and then quit by walking 6 miles and 2) I kept seeing guys who were younger and by appearances, in better shape than me, stop and begin walking, hanging their heads down. "HA!", the mean streak would say, "I'm tougher than that pussy!" and I would push on, dragging my right foot. The mean streak is all about how tough you are in your head and it is more powerful than any muscle. If you have ever seen the documentaries on TV about Navy SEAL training, you will see a mean streak in action and know why you never want to mess with a SEAL. I have no problem saying that I am a pussy when standing next to those guys.

So, why did I begin t hurt at mile 13? I really don't know. All indicators were that I had trained enough, and ate correctly. I probably could have slept more the Friday and Saturday before the race, but I really can't put a finger on the problem.

So, I'm a little tired and starting to rattle on too long here. Why does that happen. If you are tired, you think you type less. Nope, not me. Go figure.