Beach to Beacon: The Comeback Tour

It's possible that I'm quite simply a glutton for punishment. It might explain why in college I subsisted mainly on family-size boxes of cereal - "Kix" and "Smacks" to be exact. It was a few years later that I realized the masochistic implications of my cereal choices.

But I'd like to think that a second attempt at the Beach to Beacon 10K (following
last year's less-than-triumphant outcome) is a sign of courage, determination and inner strength. And by "inner strength" I mean the desire to quit living in shame.

I knew on August 5, 2007 (the day after the 2007 B2B) that I had to run it again this year. I couldn't let "I made it to mile three and then died" be the finale. I couldn't go out like that. I couldn't forever be haunted by feelings of running inadequacy.

But blog again? I wasn't so sure. It's a risky thing, building up the expectation like that, unsure if you're really going to be able to follow through.

I gave it some thought and decided that if I'm going to put myself through it again then I might as well allow readers to laugh at it (read: me) again, should they care to do so.

Besides, it's always nice to have people cheering you on, whatever your endeavor. And I had plenty of cheering last year from commenters on this blog, who offered words of encouragement, welcome advice and tips on which beer has the least amount of carbs.

In fact, I felt a bit like I had let those generous commenters down. So to them I say: This run's for you. I'm going to finish what I started last year. I'm going to own this race. I'm going to taunt every mile as I go. I'm going to tie this race to a parking meter and slap it around.

Er, maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. That's the kind of talk that gets you into trouble (and by "trouble" I mean "six months in a Brazilian prison." But I'm not allowed to talk about that).

Let it suffice to say that I'm going to try my damnedest.

And here's the larger view of the blog image, which I happen to find highly entertaining. Thanks to my colleague, Kate, who made the "Redemption" connection and had the idea for this photo. It works on so many levels.

Orientation for the Reach the Beacon program (brought to you by Maine Running Company) kicks off this Thursday. The program is apparently booked to capacity, so it should be an interesting ride.

On that note, I'm ready to get this party started.