On Saturday…

On Saturday I’ll participate in my last half-marathon of the year, my third. The event is in Cookeville, Tennessee, a lovely town about 1.5 hours from Nashville. Several colleagues from my agency are participating as well. We put together a fundraising team in support of our organization.

The team’s race shirts arrived today and they look great. My colleagues are pumped. The half-marathon newbies are giddy.

My suitcase is packed. I’ve had a very productive week. I should have no problem leaving the office early tomorrow afternoon so that I can get to Cookeville and take care of a few errands for the team prior to going to the race expo and charity pasta party.

So what could go wrong?

I could catch a cold. And that’s exactly what I did. My first thought upon waking this morning was, “Um, my throat feels scratchy.” And then came the sneezing. And congestion. And that achy feeling I get in my neck when I catch a cold.

At least it’s not a bad cold. It’s pretty mild, in fact. I’ve started mega-dosing on EmergenC. I don’t know if it helps, but it makes me feel like I’m being proactive.  I’ll drink lots of water between now and race time and I’m determined to get eight hours of sleep tonight as opposed to my usual seven hours.

On Saturday, I plan to push whatever’s left of my cold to the back of my mind. I plan to have a blast at the Upper Cumberland Haunted Half Marathon. I plan to celebrate the fact that I’ll be completing something that 10 months ago felt impossible. In December of 2009 I set a 2010 goal to do three half marathons and two triathlons in one calendar year. Little did I know at the time, due to a death in the family (making it necessary to bow out of a planned tri) I would have to cram four of the year’s five events into a 10-week period.But I’m doing it.

Saturday can’t get here fast enough. It’s going to be a great day.

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