Post-IMWI 2018 report

I'll get right to it: I fully expected the course to be more challenging than normal with all the rain, and I was right to be prepared. Still, I had a purpose and I was going to give it my all no matter what.

It didn't help at all when the director made a course change. Usually it's the 2 sticks at the beginning and end, with two loops - front and back - that you can make into one big one (that's how I usually attack the course). But the director was expecting company, and made it clear the front loop had to be done immediately after the first stick. I had never trained for this scenario, so I would have to adapt. 

Big Red was all topped off and ready to go. I checked her settings and made sure she was set at 2 and 1/2 inches because 3 wouldn't have done justice, and 2 would have pushed more watts than necessary. She fired up on the first pull, and I set off.

Conditions were ideal, hardly any breeze and sunny skies. The first stick went nice and easy, and the first transition was smooth (no cracks in the sidewalk to navigate). I started the front loop as the director instructed. I was pacing pretty well at this point and while I wasn't actively thinking PR, I wasn't dismissing it either. I just got into a pattern and settled in. Different as it was, I still got the job done. 

Now I had a decision to make: was Transition 2 going to take me to the 2nd stick or back loop? The director hadn't given clear instruction on that. The only thing that was clear was that I didn't want to DNFIT (Did Not Finish In Time). I figured if I did the 2nd stick first, that might make the back loop go faster. So that's what I did.

By the time I started the back loop I was thinking I had made a mistake. It didn't help that the course wasn't as well-maintained as I had hoped. The teenager responsible for minimal maintenance had missed several dog droppings, and I found that out the hard way. As if that was bad enough, I had a water bottle discharge trying to balance it on top of the crossbar. It was all falling apart, and I was really starting to worry about DNFIT-ing. 

You know how you have those songs that just change everything, you hear the right song at the right time and you can do anything? That's what happened. It was no less of a miracle that Pandora knew that I needed to hear Ariana Grande's "No Tears Left To Cry." BOOM! Got my stride back just like that! Next thing you know, I'm finishing up the back loop and taking Big Red back to the shed in 53:55. Not a PR, but a very respectable finish, and most importantly not a DNFIT.

I don't know when or if I'll go back to repeat. I'd like the teenager maintenance crew to improve first, and I'd want to got back to the single loop of front and back. I'll keep you all posted. But at least now I can say, officially, "THE LAWN IS FINISHED!"