WTH Am I Thinking?

    Just as I think my race season is near the end, I sign up for another rather brutal event. Race The Reaper, a 6 mile, cross country, obstacle race with 20+ obstacles. I cannot but ask myself, "WHAT THE HELL AM I THINKING?!" I was wheedled into this my my buddy Josh, a 24 year old firefighter who was at the Stair Climb with me, and a fellow race freak. But damn, he is 24. I am not. Hell, I have a son older than that. I have not been training for obstacle races this summer, focusing my energies on triathlon endurance, two similar but very different training concepts. Yes, I have decent upper body and core strength from swimming and weights, but not what it will take for many of the challenges I know are now looming. And then there is the knee instability issue, the reason I had discarded the idea of doing these types of events. I hear the voices of my doctor, physical therapist and coach, "catastrophic," echoing through my skull. So seriously, what the hell? The hell of it is, I really want to do this. I am excited and planning on giving it every ounce of effort I can. Yeah, so I am a bit of an idiot. As my recruiting officer at the station asked at this last drill, after my epic weekend of Tri and Stair Climb, "When was the last time you had a psyche evaluation?" Yes, it made me laugh, with only a hint of mania.
    In my defense, I am a planner. I am thinking ahead, working out glitches. Tomorrow for my trail run I will be trying KT Tape for the first time. It has a stellar reputation for giving incredible stability to joints. Both knees will be taped, and topped with neoprene knee braces. I am opting to leave my bulky off-loading, stabilizing knee brace at home though. It is wide enough that it alters my running stride. Plus, I do not want to subject a $1000 knee brace to water, mud and god knows what. I think I will take it for after, since it alleviates the arthritis pressure. So, Kt Tape for stability, basic knee sleeves for a little added security as well as knee cap protection, and my ZemTek Terra running shoes to keep my footing nimble and grounded. See, I am thinking this through.
    Two weeks to mentally prepare myself. There is not much I can do in the way of physical prep this late in the game, so this will be all mental for me. I am not worried about running the distance, or even failed attempts at obstacles, only about potential damage to the fragile joints that are my Kryptonite. I have said it before; If my joints were as tough and strong as my muscles and bones, I would be a freakin' superhero. So, let the games begin.