Marching On

The dust has mostly settled from Saturday’s bonkfest.  I feel much better and mostly recovered.  My head still has some sort funk coming and going out- leftover remnants from whatever flu virus came over me, I figure.  Anyway, March is here which means training officially kicks up a notch.  This is good because I am ready for the next level.  The next level begins this weekend with a long planned trip to the mountains several hours from home with a sturdy batch of trail veterans with plans to cover several miles and get in lots of vert.

February ended right where I hoped it would with not a single day off from running since before January 1.  The thought process for the first half of this year follows something along the lines of by running each day I re-affirm a commitment to showing up at Massanutten ready for battle.  So, consistency is the jam I will continue spreading over my training bread in the remaining months, weeks and days leading up to then.

The past few days of running with the flu-funk has not been the greatest.  I considered holding back and resting but instead kept the runs short and at a slow, active recovery pace.  Walking the tightrope between maintaining the consistency goal and overdoing it is not, nor will ever be, easy.  And, truly, running each-and-every-day is not that important in comparison to day to day health because remaining healthy above all else is actually the linchpin to consistency.  This morning’s run is an example of the aforementioned tightrope.  10 minutes into the run, arriving at my usual North Trail marker in Rock Creek Park at 4:40 I almost turned around and ran back to bed.  Looking down trail in the pitch black was like starring into a black hole.  That, plus the fresh mud from yesterday’s rain didn’t feel so welcoming.  My body felt cold and not really up for the outing.  This was a weird moment.  Somehow, fortunately without great effort, I talked my body into going for the run after all and, though it took a while, like an hour or so, we eventually warmed up together and by the end managed to come away with a somewhat meaningful hilly 10 mile effort for the bank.  I’m not saying I liked this run that much.  I prefer not to have to talk my body into doing something it doesn’t necessarily want to do.  But if I have to, and the body is willing, I will do so again.  What’s worth doing is worth fighting for.  The goal is on the table and I won’t lose it without a fight, or at least without some sort of attempt at persuasion.

With regards to toppling any remaining flu-like symptoms inspiration comes in many forms.