Kicking Ass and Taking Names

Weather: 17 Degrees. Let the sun shine down upon my face

CD: Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One

The comeback is complete. I competed in my first race in years last weekend and words can't express the fun I had. Conditions were horrible. 4 Degrees. Rain. At times hail. And a constant wind blowing directly into my face. "Kicking Ass weather" I called it. And I was ready to kick some ass. It made State Meet 97 look like the beach. Ouch. I got about 6 weeks of training in for the 21 kilometer race along the Elbe. Enough to not embarrass myself, but not quite enough to be truly competitive.

I went out "nice and under control" for the first 10K. A bit too nice actually. But it's hard to rush when you're flexing your muscles for the fans and blowing kisses to the cheerleaders and marching band who lined the route. As I said, I had a really good time. At the 10K mark I decided it was "time to go to work" and vocally told myself to get the wheels going. I can only imagine what the people next to me were thinking. I threw down the hammer during the last 5K. I don't know what that split was but I do know that I passed 37(!) people on my way to the finish line (and noone even challenged me) and a time of 1:32.58. Not too bad considering I'd spent Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night out in the clubs until 3 AM at the earliest.

My body hasn't moved that fast in years. It felt really good to get back out there again. More races are planned. I miss that feeling of competitiveness...

With the end of the race, I reached immediately for a beer, which I shared with some of my racing compatriots (who will be buying me a beer on short order after the tail-whupping I gave them). Water is for nancy-boys.

Pictures are online for your viewing pleaser. You can see I felt nothing but joy during the race. Life is good.

www.foto-team-mueller.de. Enter "OberElbe Marathon". For the Search Number enter 2822.