I have been busy -- with all manner of personal and professional noise, both bad and good. It's one of those times where all I can do is try to keep up and get everything done. These pictures convey an opposite message. Don't be fooled. :p
Monday, October 25, 2010
Trying to keep up
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Firetrails 50 -- exorcising the misanthrope
Saturday I ran the Firetrails 50 in the East Bay Regional Trails in California. First the basics: I finished in 11:41, thought it was a very well organized and lovely race and had a wonderful weekend with my girlfriends Cheryl and Jenn, including the huge treat of getting to see Meghan Hicks. I should also mention I finally got to meet her boyfriend Bryon who is a really cool dude.
This race was a good lesson in head space. I was in San Francisco hanging out and having a good time and started the race with the sense that I really couldn't be bothered to spend a whole day in the Bay area running. I looked around thinking about how if I wanted to spend the day outside, why was I running in Oakland, CA? It seemed insane. Ridiculous. I started thinking about when I should drop. Except what would I do all day? My friend Beat was incredibly nice enough to drive us to the race, so I'd have to wait for him. I knew there was a keg so I figured a day draining a keg was better than a day running in Oakland. (It wasn't really Oakland exactly but nearby so I'm calling it Oakland). It was hot. My skin was surely melting right off. Why is California so hot? Why do I keep coming here? Why do I run long distances? It's sorta dumb.
My iPod started fizzling out. That was it. If my iPod died I was for sure dropping. That was the last straw. By mile 17 or so I'd had it. But then my iPod worked and I finally hit some shady single track. And I saw Cheryl, who provided me with my super cute plaid running shorts which were acquired on a particularly bad day last week. She flew in from Chicago to run the marathon and hang out. It's hard to be cranky around Cheryl. She just won't really let you be cranky. That's one of the reasons I love her so.
The ultimate cheerer-upper was seeing Beat sitting on the side of the trail with his laptop open trying to work. He was on-call and had been paged. Seeing such an absurd sight was enough to make me smile and move on. And when I told him about how much I hated everything he made me feel really guilty and bad -- misanthropes don't feel guilty and bad. The exorcism had begun.
Sigh. I actually though it was all really pretty. Even here in beautiful NW Montana you don't see the ocean and the Golden Gate bridge. Beat started talking about how wonderful life is. I felt all warm and happy inside. I felt the goodness of life. The power of sunshine and endorphins compels you.
I realized I was almost half way done. It wasn't so bad. I was enjoying myself. I hadn't fallen too far behind. My friend Jenn was running her first 50 and flew all the way from Georgia to be there. I could be bothered to finish afterall. I finished with Jenn and our friend Chris who was pacing Jenn. The misanthrope was gone and I was downright cheery.
So, I finished. It was good mental practice to see how much head-space matters in ultrarunning.
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| photo courtesy of Jean Pommier |
My iPod started fizzling out. That was it. If my iPod died I was for sure dropping. That was the last straw. By mile 17 or so I'd had it. But then my iPod worked and I finally hit some shady single track. And I saw Cheryl, who provided me with my super cute plaid running shorts which were acquired on a particularly bad day last week. She flew in from Chicago to run the marathon and hang out. It's hard to be cranky around Cheryl. She just won't really let you be cranky. That's one of the reasons I love her so.
The ultimate cheerer-upper was seeing Beat sitting on the side of the trail with his laptop open trying to work. He was on-call and had been paged. Seeing such an absurd sight was enough to make me smile and move on. And when I told him about how much I hated everything he made me feel really guilty and bad -- misanthropes don't feel guilty and bad. The exorcism had begun.
Sigh. I actually though it was all really pretty. Even here in beautiful NW Montana you don't see the ocean and the Golden Gate bridge. Beat started talking about how wonderful life is. I felt all warm and happy inside. I felt the goodness of life. The power of sunshine and endorphins compels you.
I realized I was almost half way done. It wasn't so bad. I was enjoying myself. I hadn't fallen too far behind. My friend Jenn was running her first 50 and flew all the way from Georgia to be there. I could be bothered to finish afterall. I finished with Jenn and our friend Chris who was pacing Jenn. The misanthrope was gone and I was downright cheery.
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| Jenn and Danni |
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| Cheryl, Danni and Jenn |
Tuesday, October 05, 2010
"Taper"
This weekend, which by the way was an incredibly sunny and warm weekend, I hitched a ride in the Hammer Nutrition van to Missoula where I had a pleasant and lazy weekend.
Saturday I ran 8 miles in the Rattlesnake while Jill, Beat and Dave mountainbiked. Sunday I "volunteered" at my friend Mike's 30k trail race (he was RD), which was a fundraiser for the XC team he coaches, which meant laze around in the sun all day. I did talk up a new Hammer product to someone. (Hammer version of Nuun -- it's awesome).
It was a weekend filled with nothing but good folks, good weather and beer and ice cream. I hadn't planned to run on Saturday at all but Beat, who was in town visiting Jill, demands that I start "training" for Susitna. He appears to have caught on already to my M.O. which is to train minimally and complain incessantly about how fat and out of shape I am. There's nothing like being yelled at in German (he's Swiss but does a good mean German) to motivate.
This picture is of Beat mountainbiking. I didn't take any pictures from my run but I was there, somewhere behind Beat.
I am running the Dick Collins Firetrails 50 this weekend, and am looking forward to seeing friends. My knee is hurting though and I tweaked it worse this morning on my run when I about tripped and fell on my face. I am going to rest it the rest of the week, stretch and cross my fingers. The last thing I want to do is give myself a bum knee for ski season.
Through the rest of the year I am for reals going to drink a lot less beer. And I will train. I will. I don't want to be yelled at in German. It's my Jewish side.
Saturday I ran 8 miles in the Rattlesnake while Jill, Beat and Dave mountainbiked. Sunday I "volunteered" at my friend Mike's 30k trail race (he was RD), which was a fundraiser for the XC team he coaches, which meant laze around in the sun all day. I did talk up a new Hammer product to someone. (Hammer version of Nuun -- it's awesome).
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| the beginning of the run, before they hit the trailhead |
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| stolen from Jill Homer |
I am running the Dick Collins Firetrails 50 this weekend, and am looking forward to seeing friends. My knee is hurting though and I tweaked it worse this morning on my run when I about tripped and fell on my face. I am going to rest it the rest of the week, stretch and cross my fingers. The last thing I want to do is give myself a bum knee for ski season.
Through the rest of the year I am for reals going to drink a lot less beer. And I will train. I will. I don't want to be yelled at in German. It's my Jewish side.
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