Myrtle Beach is in the bag. The North Pole will have to wait. So what will I do next week? Gingerly run a few miles? Trim the hedges in the yard? How about another marathon?

The Black Mountain Marathon is this Saturday. I’ll head up with some trail buddies who run this race annually. I’m the newbie, and pre-race accomodations are arranged by seniority. I may be in the outhouse.

Note the word “mountain.” The race features 13 straight miles of steep ascent of trails and road. After this, my quads and toes will “enjoy” the manic descent. From what I hear, it’s quite a challenging race. The accompanying 40 mile Mount Mitchell Challenge summits the highest peak East of the Mississippi. I’m just an emerging crazy person, so I’ll stick with the marathon.

Who can resist a race that sports this warning:

This will be an extremely demanding course run over rugged mountain terrain under potentially life-threatening weather conditions… [this makes it] quite likely that a competitor will suffer some sort of injury during this event…ranging from abrasions, contusions, or sprains as a result of falls… to hypothermia… to animal encounters, as this is still the natural habitat of the wildcat and the black bear. (emphasis mine)

MMMMM boy!