Getting Through It

Had a pretty good run at Pineland today. My goal was to do 18 and I got in about 18.5 miles - of which the last few were mind over matter, so I was very happy I pushed through and met my goal. Ian and Emma started at 7am and I think Jeff must have been with them as the three of them cruised into the parking lot right as I arrived at 8 as did Erik and Jamie . We headed over to the Oak Hill section first and did a few miles. Jamie was trying out the Vibram Five Fingers which left some pretty cool prints in the mud that I came across later when I hit Oak Hill for a second time. Jamie and Jeff finished up at Oak Hill and Erik, Ian, Emma, and myself headed over to "the other side" to run the usual route that follows the race course. I don't think anyone was really feeling stellar the entire time and the trails were really, really wet. But as always, I enjoyed the conversation and just being in the woods and on the trails doing what I like to do and the sun was out which was an added plus. Emma and Ian decided to cut their run a little short as injuries and losing general focus were taking the fun out of things so Erik and I finished the Campus Loop and came back to the parking lot. I still had about 7-8 miles to go so I headed back over to Oak Hill to try and finish up. As I headed out I saw Ian and Emma soaking their legs in the pond which looked oh so nice! I felt my pace slow a little bit and was just kind of feeling blah and not as energized as I hoped. I really wanted to get in the full mileage, though for several reasons: 1) if I was merely "tired" and not in any pain, I wanted to push through whatever bad place I was in for the mental training as well as getting in miles on tired legs, 2) I wasn't in the mood to beat myself up later for stopping without good reason, 3) I want to start building up my long runs and felt like this was a critical one to complete (more on these reasons and some ideas I've been mulling over in my next post). Those reasons kept me chugging away and eventually I found myself back at the parking lot having finished and actually feeling pretty decent. My ITB has been a little tight lately and I'm occasionally feeling that shin-splinty thing, so I made sure to stretch really well afterward. Lying in the grass staring up at the clouds and feeling the warm sun on my face while I stretched out my legs was a peaceful way of ending that morning's extended meditation on the trail.