chris creed took this photo of me, and thankfully you can't see my hairy legs!besides having a big halloween weekend, there was also a cross race. having JUST finished a seven day round of antibiotics on saturday, i had little hope for a great race. committed i was, though, and still am, to doing cross races, so i saddled up and headed to creve couer.
the night before, the rabid cross community did a muddy little ditty out there in the dark. thankfully, i opted to be with the kids for trick or treating. miraculously, the course was pretty darn dry for sunday's race. there was some soft dirt, for sure, but it was not muddy at all.
i started like i knew what i was doing, clogging the course for those real crossers behind me. halfway through the first lap, i was still in 3rd place. slowly but surely, they passed. and passed. and passed some more. eventually, i was in a desperate battle for 12th place. my buddy matt james and i were having a dual when i did a slow motion endo over the rail road ties. soft dirt + soft front tire + slow corner bunny hop = endo. duh.
i was still rolling pretty well for a washed up cross racer in the last few laps when people began to feel the fatigue and drop off. i buried my head and made a lot more grunting noises and went no faster (sort of like a honda civic with a fart can exhaust), but by the finish line i had worked my way up to 8th. i didn't feel proud of the placing, partly because attrition accounted for much of my late race surge, but it will have to do. i did keep my heart in it all the way to the bitter end.
my cheering section was there and that always keeps a guy going. one more race before the trip to disney, and then hopefully i can get in a couple more and make the season worthwhile.
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