The last couple of weeks have been mostly off. I've been doing some mountain biking with varying degrees of success, I've gone on a couple hikes, and last night, I went for my first run in nearly a month. While it felt pretty good when I was doing it (a very easy 6 miles on the trails in 52 minutes), I am a little sore this morning. I'm hoping that by stepping up the core exercises, stretching, and interspersing the runs with bike rides, I'll be able to get going again.
Our trip to Mount Rainier is now officially on the schedule. We put in for a permit to summit on Wednesday, July 25. That gives us time to drive up there, maybe learn a thing or two about mountaineering (I've never done the roped-up, crampon thing before), climb the mountain, and then have a couple of days to drink beer and wind our way back home. Looks like I'll be putting in some weekend hours to make up for that week. Oh well. Worth it.
This is a pretty quick little update. It's difficult to keep a training blog when one hasn't been training. I've been flirting with expanding my horizons. Running is my absolute first love, and always will be, but there are so many other things and adventures out there. The mountaineering thing in particular really fascinates me. I can see myself really getting into bagging peaks. I've also been enjoying the biking; while it doesn't give me quite the same euphoric feeling as running, it's pretty dang fun to bomb down trails and try to stay upright. I also just read Anton's blog about skyrunning in Europe. That seems like something I can get behind.
As for the running thing, I have added the Happy Jack Endurance Races to my schedule July 7-8. Alec (aka Journeyman Adventures) has an old school ultra party planned for the event. Come out and join for any of the following: 24 hour run, 12 hour run, 6 hour run, or straight up 100M. I'll be manning the aid station with Party Captain Sandra, who is beside herself with excitement to provide participants with a kick-ass aid station atmosphere. She's got big ideas! I hope to partake in the 6-hour event between my shifts at the aid station. What's better than running through the mountains for six hours in the middle of the night? Nothing, that's what.
I still have Pikes Peak on the schedule. I'll try to get in what shape I can for it, and then just do it. I'm going to try to shelve the competitiveness for the time being. It's what caused this whole injury mess in the first place. And while I would be lying if I said I didn't want to run fast and do well in races, I also have figured out that killing myself, injuring myself to do so isn't worth all this time being unable to run. I'd rather be up running trails conservatively than running a decent half-marathon and then not being able to run for six weeks. I've got to get past that old mentality. See if this old dog can learn a new trick or two.
There are many things to do and see. Hopefully some time outside will help me relax and be less anxious. I have another calming influence that has come into my life. I don't know, when I'm around her, I just feel better. About everything. That's a heck of nice feeling.
I'll bring some monthly mileage figures into this post later this week. I haven't done much, but I have done something.
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