Tales from the Other Side: Day Seven

Woke up this morning after another bad sleep thinking about a talk I was scheduled to give to the campers this evening. I was going to talk about the importance of consistency in training. I'd never given the talk before so I wasn't sure how it was going to go.
The training for the day was a long "Run for the Border" ride. 5-6 hours with an optional transition run.
By now the group had been divided into three groups. Today I was to take out the B group. My fear, of course, was that I wouldn't be strong enough to stay with them. My fears were not completely unfounded. I had a few moments out there that I thought I may not be able to hold the pace but in the end it turned out okay. Having a van for support - especially one driven by Cliff English, sure keeps a group going. He was a amazing!! With three groups spread MILES on the road he just kept popping up. The Snickers bars and Powerbars were well appreciated!!

We ended up getting lost because of construction in the town of Veil and the ride was cut short - four hours. There were a lot of tired legs out there.
A nice moment for the "B" gang came when we caught the "A" as we were coming back into town.
With the ride only 4 hours, pretty much everyone jumped into their Sneakers and headed out the door for the run. It was hot as blazes out there but I felt fine.
One of the reasons I felt so fine was a new pair of shoe inserts Ian had given me. I'd told him about some foot cramping that I was prone to after long rides. He suggested the new Specialized High Performance Footbed with a metatarsal button. It was designed for my problem exactly. I guess it's not that uncommon a problem. I was nervous about riding with something new like that for four hours but I didn't even notice they were there and when I started running I was shocked at how good my feet felt!! I shit you not! If you ever suffer from the same problem, give those bad boys a shot!

Then it was time for the talks.

There's a few things I'd do differently but in the end I'd say it went well enough. I suppose I'll be giving the same talk again to the next group of campers so I can iron out a few of the weaker moments.
Ian from Specialized warmed the room up by discussing bike fit and I know that was a conversation a lot of people needed to hear!