The other day I was just sitting at my desk, writing UI requirements (ho hum), when an email popped into my In box, and that email bore the news that my friend’s relay team for Reach the Beach was down a member and they were looking for a runner for their team. For the uninitiated, RtB is a 200 mile, 24 hour relay race, from Franconia to Hampton Beach, NH. Basically you alternate running, driving around to different parts of the course, stinking it up in a van with your teammates, and having tons of fun all the while. Afterwards, you drink beer and eat fried seafood. Hooray!

Now, it was only a few days ago that I had been saying to another friend of mine, Oh, I wish that I could do that race, so of course I replied and said, I’m in. Where do I sign up? And my friend said, Are you sure? That’s fantastic. And I said, Does the Pope shit in the woods? which I know makes no sense, but it’s fun to say anyway.

And then I IMed Dianna, basically squealing like a little monkey about the whole thing.

I then squealed (again, like a monkey) to another, non-running friend of mine, who asked, “are you excited? Because I don’t know if I should be excited for you, or just tell you you’re crazy, and I just want to give you the correct response.” I think a bit of both is appropriate, to tell you the truth, I said, or rather squealed.

So, now I’m on a team. And it is AWESOME and I am PSYCHED. Psyched, like only a squealing little monkey can be psyched, which is a lot, apparently. And now I must figure out how to train for this race, and how it differs from my half marathon training, which is going OK in spite of my PF. My friend Jillie sent me a copy of her training schedule and it seems to dovetail nicely into my own, with the exception of running a few doubles before the race, so I’ll have to figure that out.

I’ve got a 9 miler on tap for Saturday morning, before we leave for our camping trip, and that will be my longest run since my half in May. It seems crazy and weird to me that I’m back to running longer miles so quickly, given that I took so much time off after the race, and that I’ve been running spottily ever since, but so it goes. I’ll take it. I just wish the PF would go away is all.

The night splint has been helping a ton, and I can finally sleep through the night with it on, which is huge. For a while I ended up taking it off at around 3am, then putting it back on around 5am, before getting up at 5:30. Needless to say, that kind of messed with my sleep patterns. I never go barefoot anymore, and I’m still using a foam roller on my calves, which always feel tight no matter what I do.

But Reach the Beach! Oh my. I can barely contain myself. Glen & Julia are coming in from Chicago. Wu is coming down from Vermont. Kris and Robert are coming up from San Antonio. Beth from Connecticut. Melissa from Ohio, whom I’ve never met. A bunch of us Massholes. And Jill, from NH by way of Kentucky. I can’t wait to see them and run with them, to cheer them on and drink a beer (or many) afterward.

I am literally stupid with excitement. Seriously. Somebody pinch me!