Trippin'

One week to an epic road trip down to Missouri. Down a fabled road way, that no longer exists. A road that once ran from Chicago to Los Angeles.







Oh yeah, got my race number for the Hundo.

Sixty Six.

Nice.

ZIP

So, I have been "down' for a week. No running for 6 days. Nada. I started to have doubts about doing the 100 miler in Nov, let alone actually finishing it.

I was zapped. Tired. Fatigued. So I took nearly a week off, to let my system catch up. Legs felt OK, but I just had no energy. Some of it was running, some of it was work. Lots of stress there, given a variety of unknowns.

Today, I feel like the ZIP is back. I am excited again for the attempt at 100 miles. (I need to get some planning done!)

I will do somewhere between 15 and 20 today, but really slow (no watch). No stress on the legs. I will probably stay out for 4 hours, mostly because it looks like such a beautiful day.

Running time is play time. Get out and play today!

Elimination

Random Foolish Question of the Day:

Creationist typically criticize "natural selection" by claiming the mechanism to trigger "change" is absent.

I think this is a valid argument.

But what if natural selection works the other way around?

Attrition/elimination of those things/organisms that DON'T have an attribute, thus leaving the gene pool filled with those that do. The stronger the characteristic, the more that gene or trait is emphasized. Maybe the 'change' is simply the change in the environment. That change is well documented (ice ages, volcanoes, meteors).

I have not researched this angle at all, so don't throw arguments my way.

Down By Law

Newton formulated three laws of motion, and the first states (paraphrased and misquoted): that a body in motion tends to stay in motion, and a body at rest tends to stay at rest, unless acted upon by an external force.

For the first weekend since I can remember, I am at rest, having been in motion for the entire summer.

Over the past four months, I've been either running or training for 50 mile races (4 in 90 calendar days), with hiking, backpacking and kayak trips sprinkled in between.

Unlike physics, the forces exerting on me come from within.

Desire and Discipline.

Discipline is the opposing force on desire. The discipline to follow though on long term goals is very very hard in a world of instant gratification, and one where our desire can blind us to obstacles; a desire without planning, without reason is just a wish. Discipline is seen as inertia to desire in our hearts. But really discipline is patient when desire wants to act. Discipline is not inaction, but planned and deliberate action.

Discipline says now its time to STOP the motion, at least temporarily; REST. Let the body come to rest, and recover.

Down.

What I need right now, is to stay down; reflect on the past four 50 mile races. Look for the things I did right, the things I did wrong, the things where I let desire impede my progress.

Down.

Over the past four months I have ping ponged between over planning (which leads to inflexibility) and under planning (which leads to mistakes). For the Ozark 100, coming up in three weeks I need to get down with a plan.

Look for a detailed plan here soon.