Whoa. It's September. How about that??
This is Jason Cannon with Ibis Books.
So many of you kindly wished me and the Rebecca-Amanda-Steve Asheville Gang good luck on our half marathon last weekend, so I figure I owe you an update on that first.
Asheville is gorgeous. We drank some amazing beer, ate fantastic food, caught a minor league baseball game (the Tourists, possibly the least fear-inspiring team name ever, but also featured in Bull Durham!), and hung out at a board game bar. Seriously. A board game bar.
WE EVEN SAW BEARS! Like, we're sitting on the patio, chatting and laughing, and not 20 feet away, la de da, there goes a mama black bear and her cub, ambling down the driveway toward the woods.
We were not up in the mountains somewhere. We were in a neighborhood. It was surreal and sorta wonderful.
I didn't get a pic. Didn't want to make any sudden moves. But here's an artist's rendition of the Asheville Black Bear...
Yeah, I'm just looking for the hippest new brewery.
Oh yeah. The race. Ummmm... well here's the thing. Florida is flat. And the summer has been so brutally hot that I wasn't able to get in the long training runs. Asheville's hills are unforgiving. For me, miles 1-4 were GREAT. Flat and/or downhill.
Then... the first UP hill. Steep. STEEEEEP. A mile long. I had to walk a bit. I gave up any attachment to a time goal and just focused on surviving.
And survive I did.
Even the dang finish line was on an up-slope! Gah!
Meanwhile, Steve destroyed the course, Rebecca was somehow able to run up every hill, and Amanda--doing her FIRST EVER HALF!--also rocked it. So we celebrated.
And then we REALLY celebrated.
I walked funny for a day on unhappy heels. But now all is well. And because this kind of agony is strangely addictive, we're planning our next. :)
Second and final quick update this week, I came home to some wonderful news! A play I had submitted for publication got accepted and has officially been launched and even booked its first performance.
Check it out--
Maybe I should write a sequel starring the Asheville Black Bear...
You can learn all about it HERE at my personal website. And if you know any community groups or high school theatre departments or theatres for young audiences, hey, send 'em my way. :)
Lastly, for those of you also in Florida or otherwise in Idalia's path, I hope you and yours are safe and sound and as dry as one can hope coming through a hurricane. Thankfully Rebecca, Gaia, Odin, and I just have a few branches to clean up, but many others were not nearly so lucky. Wherever you are, may you be safe.
Jason "Hill Survivor" Cannon
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