Simple Life

Who knew that my unwillingness to walk, or possibly jog, the last 15 miles of the Bear 100 last year would bring me to where I am today…

I arrived at the mile 85 aid station precisely at 6:00am to the second, exactly 24 hours since beginning the race.  My quads were very sore, preventing me from doing anything but walk carefully downhill from the previous aid station and, in the process, becoming very cold when arriving at Beaver Creek with temperatures hovering in the mid 20’s.  After Beat arrived, he did everything within his abilities to coax me into leaving the aid station with him, but I refused.  To this day, it is a decision I regret.  It would have made for a great experience during those last miles.

About a week ago, I was complaining to Olga about how Ozark 100 is fast becoming something I would like to forego, considering all the current personal commitments of purchasing and moving into a house which, coincidentally, is during the peak period of my training for Ozark.  Can I finish the race?  With my current base of training, thusfar, yes.  But, it wouldn’t be my best effort.  Olga joked that if I would have only finished that last 15 miles of Bear, none of this would be happening right now.  I shook my head and laughed with her.  Such a simple statement which summed up my current situation.  Oh, how the truth hurts!

Last week, I managed one short run on a Monday and nothing for the remainder of the week, mostly, due to feeling tired mentally, emotionally, and physically attributed to the stress of the impending move this past weekend.  But, with the help of several friends and Herculean efforts by Olga over the past several weeks, we are moved in and mostly settled.  So, with five weeks left until race day, I began running, again, yesterday.  But, now, with the added (ok, cue the dreary, weepy violin music!) of having to actually drive to a trailhead to run compared to the previous scenario of just walking several hundred feet to the trail.  But, it wasn’t that bad since it is less than 10 minutes “door to feet on trail".  And, being on the trail in the dark morning hours and finishing in the dark was soothing to my soul.

It’s time to buck up and finish out the next five weeks strong.  That is a far cry from my desire to bag the race this past week.  The only realistic goal I have for the race is to just finish and that will require a change in mindset.  Last year, during the race, I remember sitting at the mile 51 aid station having decided to stop.  A good acquaintance of mine and grizzled 100 mile veteran spoke to truest words I’ve ever heard during a race—“A bad finish is better than a good quit!”. These words have been burned in my memory ever since.  And, if all I get in November is a “bad finsh”, it will be a huge victory.  It’s not always about the run and the finish time, but how the adversity during the time on the trail was overcome.  For me, it’s a reflection of life.  It’s really that simple…