I dropped out of the 24 Hours of Momentum early and often. Two points led to me initially dropping out. First, the course was entirely runnable. While I had no problem going long in the Tetons and Wasatch last month, those runs had plenty of walk breaks. This course did not. I was not ready to run 27 consecutive miles on rolling trails. I did push the pace ever so slighty too much early on, but that shouldn’t have been enough to end my day early. Second and more importantly, I’m near my breaking point in terms of scheduling and don’t want to take it any more. I decided that I needed to reduce my stress. One thing causing the stress is a huge workload at the firm these days. I decided to go home, get a decent night of sleep and then get to work.I need to get my life in order in both small and large scales. Life should be enjoyable, not stressful or something that must be dealt with. I’m working on things. Anyway, I dropped after six laps while still in the lead. I hung out, snacked, and got stretch during an hour and a half off the course before deciding that I actually did want to go back into the woods for a twilight lap. I enjoyed that lap enough that I went out for a second bonus lap. Well worth it. After hanging out for a bit more, I cam home, got a decent night’s sleep, and have gotten both work work and house work done.
Highlights of the day:
- Seeing some VHTRC friends I hadn’t seen in a while
- Getting stretch. Patrick Burns of Motion Momentum hooked me up with some Active Isolated Stretching. This stuff is the bomb. I meant it when I told a friend being stretched “It feels good now and feels even better on the trail.” If you’re in the Richmoond area you should look Patrick and Motion Momentum up. Otherwise, I suggest looking into assisted stretching.
- Hanging out with some runners
- Any AWESOME twilight. The post-sundown sky was on par with the palettes of desert west sunsets. The smallest waning crescent moon was just above the horizon with the smoke from a fire wafting intermittently across its face. Lovely.
- I got in 37 miles of training and will run again today
