Croom DNF :(

This was from an e-mail that my good friend and running partner sent to me after I told her about Croom...

"Put it on the line, be courageous, take the risk to fail, and
experience success. Avoiding such a risk may seem emotionally safe at
first, but in the long run it will be there to haunt you."

"Runners who possess the warrior attitude demonstrate very distinct
characteristics. The warrior runner... Has courage to risk failure,
learn from setbacks, and forge ahead."

You are a courageous, passionate, fearless warrior runner!

Thanks Jackie! :) Ditto!!

I had zero business being out there for the race!! My longest run since Gasparilla was about 13 miles. So I risked failure and I failed;) But I got 24 good miles in before I threw in the towel. I went off like a bat out of hell and paced with the lead group of 3 runners. I got behind John Doc's the same guy I tailed at last years Croom and unknown to him he led me to a finish time of 8:15. But that was not in the cards this year. I tripped on one of the lovely roots on the trail and did a face plant into a beautiful rock. I got up a bit dazed but I had hyper flexed my back and it killed!!!! I continued running and caught up. I then tripped 3 more times within a 5-minute span. I could not se the trail. Here is the kicker! I stopped by Adventure Outfitters to pick up a new headlight because my dog Bear snacked on my old one. I was holding a 26-dollar Black Diamond flood in the left hand and a 59 dollars Black Diamond light in the right. Yup.... went with the left hand;( I am not a frugal person but I figure a light is a light. WRONG!! I could not see a darn thing! After I lost the group I picked up the pace to catch them and proceeded to make a wrong turn. The course was extremely well marked with Montrail Yellow tape and I still managed to make a wrong turn. So I looked at my garmine and I was running about a 7 1/2 min mile and after about a mile I still had not caught these guys and I new at that point I had made a wrong turn. I backtracked and finally saw a string of headlights up on a ridge and I rejoined the race. My back was tweaked and I think I made a good decision by stopping. I am going to see my chiropractor tom morning. Still I have never DNF'd anything in my life and it's a huge shot to the ego. I am thinking about redeeming myself and signing up for a race in CA called the Leona Divide on April 21st. It looks like a beautiful spot. I am going to contact My Buddy Tony who lives out in San Fran. I would like to run out by Castle Rock State Park and head back to the Purisima Open Space Preserve. So we’ll see☺ On another note: Easter was a blast! I was invited over my friends house and a group of us enjoyed some terrific pasta and I kept the Brennan family Easter tradition alive by making Whiskey Sours! After a few of the sours someone got the great idea of starting an annual Easter 1 mile race in your Boxer shorts. I finished second!! ☺