I’m about the head out of Lawrence to near Salina for the Rockin K in a few hours. Mentally, I’m stoked and relaxed at the same time. This is the ideal stage for me to be in. I have to have a good balance of excitement and reality in order to succeed, otherwise I get myself in some kind of trouble. One thing that was always drilled into us back in my military days was that being complacent is a severe disease. In hostile situations, complacency kills people. In the civilian world it’s not as extreme, but I think we kill a certain part of ourselves when complacent about any aspect of our lives. That said, I always have to stay focused and sharp on my toes, no matter the situation.

Some of you may remember a pain I had in the back of my knee. I’m happy to announce that pain is no longer hanging around. My time off, although I wasn’t happy about it, was great and well deserved. I’d like to think I’m back to my “normal” self. The pain may or may not start up at some point after mile 20, which is when it has been popping up in the past. But I’m staying positive and I’m being very, very careful about the nutrients I’m packing so that I avoid many aches and pains and stay strong throughout the race.

I’ll definitely post a race report on Sunday at some point. I was thinking about bringing a small tape recorder for various reasons, e.g., “writing” portions of my thesis and describing different parts of the trail and how I’m feeling at that point. I’m all about accuracy and this seems like a great way to go about being accurate. But the recorder idea may fall through; it was just an idea. Maybe the next race.

Hope everyone is staying strong.