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Week 52: The Beginning of the End, or the End of the Beginning?

This past weekend was all about putting the finishing touches on a massive training block of running preparing for a 100-kilometer race in the Virginia mountains.

But it also involved back-to-back 20+ mile days after a big effort during the race on the previous weekend.

The first day was rough. I was testing a couple new things, but my energy levels were pathetic. In terms of testing, I’ve been good about eating on the run, so I thought I’d try eating half a Cold Cut Combo™ from Subway halfway through.

I probably looked like a crazy person running through the streets of downtown Dayton, covered in salt, eating half a hoagie.

As it turns out, that’s way too much food to drop into your stomach at once.

I didn’t feel sick, but I felt much too full and I never felt a real boost in energy from it anyway. Consider it a failed experiment. So it goes.

The next day, I woke up dreading the last long run.

I was complaining. I was moaning. I was procrastinating.

Then my wife, in her infinite wisdom, reminded me that I should approach this with gratitude.

I’m not hurt. I’ve gained fitness, confidence, patience, empathy, and even a whole new set of friends.

I’ve somehow, simultaneously become a much more boring and yet more interesting person.

She was right.

I ran with joy in my heart that morning. I reflected on the journey I started last summer, one that would transform my life in a way I never expected. I thought about the how empowering it is to move our bodies freely, to push our limitations, and to continue surprising ourselves late into life.

Then the wheels fell off about 14 miles in. I grudgingly put one foot in front of the other on exhausted legs until I hit the pavement at the end of my driveway.

And with that step, it was taper time.

The work is pretty much done. Now I just have to heal up, rest up, and carb up over the next couple weeks until the big race.

I couldn’t tell if it was the beginning of the end, or the end of the beginning, but I was thankful to still be in one piece after running nearly 1800 miles in the last year.

All because of one silly YouTube video.

If you want to do something, all you have to do, is do it.

“It’s easy to be a naïve idealist. It’s easy to be a cynical realist. It’s quite another thing to have no illusions and still hold the inner flame.” -Marie-Louis von Franz

Live triumphantly. See you next week.