Since my last personal best attempt (2023 Grandma’s) and the last completed one (2023 Marquette), I hadn’t necessarily enjoyed the luxury and the privilege of a race day performance representative of my training and progress and more importantly, of all the help I had received in making that progress. Training log indicated few more tweaks that could help me race this distance better. If implementing those tweaks over a meaningful period of time took me a few steps forward, a handful of setbacks took me a step or two back. Being patient while the injuries healed and finding detours around setbacks were neither easy nor fun.
Most endurance events, as I have come to realize, are what have you done for me consistently and specifically? type of endeavors. When the answer is a not much and when unseasonably high heat and humidity join the party, the race day performance tends to be … though explicable … less than pretty. Such was mine in 2025 on the day after midsummer’s night. For the second time in as many editions, I stepped off the official course long before the finish line. It wasn’t all just doom and gloom (or hot and sweaty) though. Like any trip to Grandma’s, this one too wasn’t without its highlights, lessons and comforting moments!