Death Valley challenge

"...the most deadly and dangerous spot in the United States. It is a pit of horrors--the haunt of all that is grim and ghoulish. Such animal and revile life as infests this pest-hole is of ghastly shape, rancorous nature and diabolically ugly. It breeds only noxious and venomous things. Its dead do not decompose, but are baked, blistered and embalmed by the scorching heat through countless ages. It is surely the nearest to a little hell upon earth that the whole wicked world can produce." (1894)

And this is the place I'm heading to in a couple of weeks to do a half marathon! I'm sort of regretting it, not because I'm afraid of its "rancorous nature" or anything but because it doesn't fit with my training. A couple of months ago it seemed like a good idea to do some iconic stuff while I'm here in the USA, and a half marathon in Death Valley followed by a night on the Strip in Vegas with a couple of pals seemed like just the thing. But now its getting in the way. I've ended up doing the organising and booking, which is a pain, and I'm not training for a half marathon now that I've got the USA National Championships in my sights. The Nationals are 8 months away but I'm already planning around them. My training now is about core strength and about technique; it's not about going off to do a bloody run. Normally I'd just plough on, training up to and through it, and take the hit on time that this might have. But it's Death Valley, so I can't approach it too lightly or I'll - well - die. And I really can't die, not just yet, I've got far too much to do. So I'm probably going to have to taper and all that sort of thing. Tapering now just feels like 7 missed training opportunities, and I don't want to miss them. I'm doing endurance, core, base work, technique sessions. I'm concentrating on biking and swimming. Yes, swimming! I'm actually working on my swimming. A lot of this is because I need to stay in the group when I do Escape from Alcatraz (another bloody iconic event that now feels like a distraction from the Nationals). I need to stay in the group so if any sharks come I can hide, or at least increase my chances of survival by having some alternative swimmers for them to eat. However, I have escalated my ambitions from mere survival through to proper ambition. Since I adopted (AKA "paid for") my professional athlete's lifestyle, I have advanced my swimming to something close to competence. While I still don't enjoy it, I am getting quicker - and better. I've had some basic technique lessons, which got me swimming reasonably well, then some advanced lessons with an Olympic triallist (Bobby Savulich). Now I'm having some 1:1 sessions with Bobby because I'm not keeping up with the advanced group lessons. I've learned about the "four point connection" between the leg kick, the rotation, the arm stroke and the hip. You get them all to contribute at the right time and BOOM - you propel through the water like a fish. Bobby got one of his pals to demonstrate this and the guy was going so quick he was creating a wave behind him. Yet it seemed effortless. I can't get all the 4 points contributing. Well, more accurately I can't get them all contributing at the right time, in the right order. So I'm doing the 1:1s to sort it out. When I'm done with that, and when I get the 6-beat kick right, I'll be so much more streamlined and not creating the drag that I currently am, and therefore I'll be faster. Much faster. I think I'm on the verge of a sea-change (see what I did there?) in my swimming. I still won't enjoy it though. So - back to the Death Valley business: it's ended up costing a fortune. There's the flight to Vegas, the night in the "Furnace Creek Lodge" (yes, really!), the car hire, the night in the 5 star Aria hotel in Vegas (one of my pals wants to "live it up a little"), and then all the associated costs of being in a place like that. I don't even like Vegas, or the prospect of being there. So, in summary, I'm going to a place I don't like to run in an event I don't want to do. But if I don't do these things while I'm here I'm probably going to regret it. Hey ho! Mustn't grumble.