It All Comes Back to Running

After a fairly easy 3 hour trail run during which I felt like hell, I fell asleep in the car ride back to NY. (No, I was not driving!) I came home, showered, ate, puttered a bit, and passed out. I slept a solid 11 hours, dragged myself out of bed for work (late), was fairly useless for 3.5 hours, then left to go back home to sleep. I slept another 3 hours, got up, ate, and passed out for another 10 hours. Then I worked from home, and decided to skip my Tuesday weight lifting/elliptical for 1hour/1 hour run. I needed to rest.

I'm not a creature who likes to rest. It was a little difficult, but I kept busy with relaxing, drinking chamomile tea, catching up. Today, I feel heaps better, and was able to do my Tuesday workout routine no problem (though I know yesterday I would have had great difficulty).

Sometimes it's hard to step back and realize what's best...I know Umstead looms close ahead, and I know the cut-off for a sub-24 100 miler will be very, very tight, and I know, I KNOW if I'm having a good day I can definitely achieve it. The problem is, with running, you never know if you'll have a good day until it happens.

At VT100, I was on target for sub-24 for a while. At mile 70, I was slipping off it a little, but I could see 24-and-change. And well, we all know what happened when my feet had that horrid allergic reaction to the socks...

Iliana and I have been talking about upcoming races. It keeps changing, but I think this will be 2010:

• February 13: Dances with Dirt 50 Miler (Green Swamp, FL)
• March 27-28: Umstead 100 Miler (NC)
• April: Boston Marathon
• May 1: Miwok 100k
• May 8: Bear Mountain (probably not, but I'd love to do the 50 miler)
• May 22: South Mountain 100k (I do love those fatasses, baby!)
• June: Ultimate XC
• July: Maybe, Maybe, Maybe Vermont 100
• August: Possibly pacing Iliana in Leadville!
• August: Burning Man 50k
• October: Javelina Jundred
• November: NYC Marathon (If I'm in the States...)
• December: Agua y Fuego 100k in Nicaragua

It's a pretty tough schedule, and a lot of money in plane fares. I'm hoping I can use my frequent flier miles to go to Nicaragua and/or AZ for Javelina...


So many races, so little time.


How did ultrarunning become such a passion? I think as my last relationship slowly disintegrated, I embraced something that always loved me back (well, except when I was trying not to cry in the bushes in the VT50 or crying during the Watchung 50k blizzard in 2009). It's tough, but running is the one thing I always come back to. I read some old letters I wrote when I was 16 and I was obsessed even then (scarily!). I look around at the mess in my apt - Endurolytes on the bookshelf, a pile of clothes for tomorrow's run at my feet, running backpack next to my Coach bag, my cat snuggling with my wicking socks...my life is full of contradictions, but really....


It all comes back to running.