What did I sign up for again?

Ok so now that you know some background, let's look ahead.   Remember I said that Coworker...er...Pushy Tom convinced me that signing up for the trail series was a good idea.   The RiverBound Race Series consists of four trail races, with each one increasing in distance.

March 12  - 8K
May 21 - 10K
July 16 - 15K
September - Half marathon - yep 13.1 miles on a TRAIL.

I should note now that every one of these in the series has a 5K option.  If I ever take the 5K option I'm pretty sure I would get weeks of grief from Coworker Tom.  Don't be a wuss....and that would be some of the nicer of the comments.

Since I have not run a trail race yet, Kelly the Magnificent thought it would be a good idea to do one before the series starts...thus the 4 mile run Charlotte Running Company trail race at the Whitewater center on January 22nd.  This should be good practice.

Many of you know I attend the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games every July.   They have a insane marathon but they also have The Bear which is a 5 mile run straight up the mountain.   I'm inclined to sign up for the Bear.  I have two friends I'm pretty sure that are going to go for it as well, one who is a first timer like myself (Hi Dave if you are reading this)  and the other has run it several times (Hi Kirk if you are reading this).   I cannot tell you how many times that I looked at those people coming back from the Bear and said "you are nuts".    Hmm, I still think a 5 mile run up a mountain is nuts.  

I haven't really planned anything past September because I'm not entirely sure that I won't still be in the woods of the Whitewater Center passed out while attempting the 13.1 miles.   

I leave you with a picture the shirt that I will likely be using to run the Bear and the 13.1 (if I survive that long).