This weekend marks my two year run-racing anniversary. Two years ago, I took a last minute plunge - after only two months of running - in buying a 30k race bib from an injured runner. Toeing the line at Around the Bay 30K in Hamilton, ON, I was uncertain whether I'd be able to finish because the longest I had ever ran was 18k. My memory of the actual race is a blur. I remember running with my friend, Christine the whole way and somehow after 3+ hours I finished. I remember crossing the finish line in Copps Coliseum, a volunteer putting a medal on me, and sitting on the floor never felt so good. We sat there for a long, long time. Since then I've done marathons and 50ks but I'll never forget how I felt finishing my first 30k. It's only truly exhilarating when you finish something without knowing that you can. I miss that. DNF are three daunting letters that impede me from even trying sometimes. This weekend, I am flying home to run the ATB again. Words cannot explain how stoked I am to run the race and to run it with my friends who got me hooked in the first place.
“The secret of man is the secret of his responsibility.” -Václav Havel This weekend, I’ve learned that you can be both undertrained and overtrained. A few week ago, I signed up for the Eastern Divide 50k because I wanted a longer race in June as training. My last one was the Leatherwood 50k in April and I haven’t run longer than 20 miles since. I did, however, start training with the TriYon team again, which means adding back a bit of strength and speed work into my running. Hence, undertrained with less than ideal miles on my legs, but overtrained with tired muscles from workouts. That didn’t dampen the excitement of a weekend getaway at Mountain Lake in Pembroke, VA, though. A group of Salisbury runners rented a house at the Mountain Lake Lodge, where “Dirty Dancing” was filmed , and they welcomed me as a late add-on. Eastern Divide 50k is a point-to-point race that starts from the Cascade Falls in the Jefferson National Forest, up and down Butt Mountain, through for...
Comments
Post a Comment