Ever since the Crying fiasco (link here), I had been clawing my way back to running health. Slowly trying to once again win back confidence from my internal heat controller which was now totally spooked since my first little training “mishap” back in 2014 (link here). It took me several years to get my body over that heat related incident and now I was trying to do it again in less than 4 months. The Bix 7 test (link here) proved conditioning was back for short runs (7 miles). Being ready for a 30 miler back in July meant there was not a lot of stress to get through with the shorter miles – my training runs since getting back on my feet were rarely under 6 miles so extending it a bit more wasn’t that much of a stretch goal. Now the IVS run was a better test and that turned out well (link here). The final validation run before the big one was the Moonlight Miles race at the historic Oak Ridge Cemetery in my hometown of Springfield IL.
I have a history with this particular race and it isn’t a good one on the health front. With the exception of last year, I think I have managed to leave my guts at the finish line (link here) .. and one year at every exit between Springfield and Peoria.(link here). Don’t read that wrong, last year I might have kept everything down, but there were some brief moments of concern that I fought through (link here). If there were serious residuals from the overheat at the Cry or any gaps in the armor from under-training, it would rear its ugly head in this race for sure. This is the starting picture of someone concerned as to how this was going to play out over the next couple of hours. The good news is they heeded my warnings last year and go rid of those damn ankle timing devices. I bitched here how it had managed to cut my ankle up last year – this year they\ finally dispensed with that archaic device and went with the sensors on the bib – hmmm, maybe they read my blog ha!
Hit the jump to find out how the race went!
