I am writing this race report because I can't walk anywhere on the saucer-sized blisters on the balls of my feet. (Apparently too large running shoes are just as bad as too small.)
The fire ant bites on the other side of my feet are less swollen and itchy now. (It is not a good idea to wear sandals in the sea grass duck watching at dusk.)
The flu which overtook me the day after flying to Florida has subsided.
And in spite of it all, yesterday in 80 degree weather, I completed the first ever Beck's Light Ultra - the 15k, 5k and 21k races at the longstanding Gasparilla Race Weekend along the Tampa Bay waterfront.
What matters is not the apparel (three different race shirts plus a Beck's Light fleece vest) - or the three clanking race medals plus a heavyweight Beck's Light medal - it's the fact that I got up at 4:30 a.m. and sweltered through, a week after the frigid Winterman in Ottawa.
I'd always said I'd quit rather than suffer, but apparently that's not the case. It's fun to still be surprising myself.
