Friday, October 1, 2010

CATS AND DOGS

To borrow a phrase from Rob Fusco (www.simpleirontruth.com), today I most definitely paid what I owed. It's rained between 2-4 inches in the last couple of days and the temperature has dropped from a very humid 78 to a very chilly 58 degrees with wind gusts in the 20 mph range. Getting out of the car was murder. The fact that I had no rain gear and only one stinky fucking orange shirt to protect me from the bow hunters was murder. I thought of a hundred excuses for why I should hop back into the car and go home and only one reason to get out. I needed to pay what I owed. I threw down my cash for the 2011 50K and it was time for me to start investing. Everything felt wrong with my mind and body until the first section of flooded trail. Where there was once nice smooth singletrack was now a nicely moving stream that exposed any roots and rocks that weren't hidden under wet leaves. As soon as my first foot was submerged to the ankle in what was a trail, I was no longer training or completing a task for the day. Instead I was 5 years old bombing through the fucking water, sliding in the mud and leaves and wondering how I could have even considered staying in the car. A picture is worth a...








2 comments:

  1. Heh, I once ran a half marathon trail race in Napa Valley, where it had rained hard the night before. The entire trail turned to mud, and the three stream crossings turned into river-type fordings in waist-high water. Except that in that whole mess, I got lost and ended up doing about six river-type fordings and finishing the race by coming in through the parking lot. Good times!

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  2. Thanks for the comment. I've been pretty convinced that no one reads this thing but it's fun for me to do anyway. That run sucked until my feet were finally submerged and I finally felt like the animal that we all are deep down. There's something about running through mud and water that makes me feel like the little kid I haven't been for a very long time. I haven't run any trail races yet but I'll run something before my 50k. Thanks, again.

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