If you have been following my exploits on the
interwebs (well other places aside from this blog), you might be
aware of my 50K ultra race. Regardless if you have or have not, sit back
and read a little recap of GREEN LAKES ENDURANCE RUNS – 50K.
Around a month back I was in Maine on vacation and
had a planned FKT attempt in my schedule. As you know the attempt never
occurred thanks to the weather creating some high winds. To fill that
void as well as get my third 50K in for the
year, I was kicking around the idea of running the 50K at Green Lakes. I
really starting looking into it once I returned from my trip.
Particularly since I had to make a decision with it being a week away.
If I opted for the race, I would need to find a hotel room since
it was a 4 hour drive up to the Syracuse region. The hotel part was
tough. Everything was pricey. Only later on did I realize Syracuse was
starting back up and the NY State Fair were occurring.
Luckily, I found a good quality hotel 20 minutes from the race site.
(And only a few blocks from the university.) So on the Wednesday before
the Saturday race, I went all in.
With having such a long drive from Philadelphia on a
Friday evening, I managed to get out at 2pm from work so I could
hopefully make it up around 6. Prior to leaving the house in the
morning, I packed the car with the items I needed. (Or
so I thought…) Mere minutes into my drive, I landed in some traffic on
I-76. Should have expected it but it was yet rush hour. However, once I
got onto the PA Turnpike’s Northeast Extension, I found a good groove.
Felt good about my travel time now. Then….BAM!
No, not an accident but traffic crawling in Binghamton, NY.
Arg….. There goes the 4 hour hope. I was headed towards 6:30 now.
Not too bad. Still had to figure out food for dinner. Thankfully, I
know the route I was taking and a fabulous Mexican establishment with
easy on and easy off access. You guessed it…Taco
Bell. As I passed through Cortland, I took a familiar exit to grab some
grub. Black Bean Burritos are great while driving. This stop also meant
being only 30 minutes from my destination, Hotel
Skyler. I’ll fast forward check-in because
we all know what that is. But once I got to my room, called the Mrs. and
unpacked, I realized…..disaster!
Of all the things I forgot to triple check….my
racing attire. My singlet, racing shorts and warm-ups all were back in
Philadelphia. I was panicking. Immediately, I hopped onto the free
wifi (at least I had my computer) to find a
running store open. I pull up the site for the local place and find out
they had closed a few minutes ago. NO!!!! I took a few deep breaths and
went into my racing bag that usually has
my racing shoes and extra cool-down clothes. Things were looking up. I
had a pair of racing shorts but not the proper under support. I’m a
briefs racer. Didn’t have those. I had a
singlet but it was black. A fall back was
developing. I had shorts and runner tees for warm-ups. Everything else
nutrition-wise I had all set. I laid everything out to assess the
situation. The one bit I kept coming back to was the
singlet. I did not want to race 31 miles in black in August. Back to
the internet, I went….I searched for a DICK’s Sporting Goods.
LUCK! One was 7 miles away. To ease my mind, I
sacrificed some rest and went hunting for tops. Upon entering the store,
I head straight for the men’s dept. hoping to find a small singlet.
Once again, luck. However, it was Nike and I do
not like to buy Nike products. (Including Starter and Converse.) Not
feeling good I also hit up the women’s dept. More sort-of luck. They
have a Reebok top that seems like it would work. Being unsure, I buy the
two less than ideal options with plans to return
the one I don’t use.
And with my purchase completed, back to the hotel, I
went. From there, the rest of my evening was peaceful as I had
everything laid out like I needed….
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