Ambitious or stupid? Leap Day 2012 trail time..
There’s no question that running frees the soul.
Many thoughts are cleared and many ideas are developed as we log miles on our
runs. Running trails, getting muddy, conquering hills, being defeated by hills,
and just getting ‘lost’ in the woods works wonders for my thought processes,
and I always finish with a feeling of accomplishment. Today was no different.
As I embarked on what turned out to be a 5-mile muddy, hilly, bust my ass trail
run today. I realized that the one thing I will always have is my time alone
with the Trail Gods. The stresses of life have a tendency to rob us of our ‘me’
time and honestly running deep in the woods is an escape for many of us as we
become unavailable to drop everything and fix problems that our lives
oftentimes revolve around, especially in our work life because we’re in the
middle of the woods somewhere.
Today, I didn’t want to stop. I didn’t want to
return to the rat-race of life. I wanted to get in at least a few more miles
but my logic stepped in. Logic told me that as ambitious, fabulous, and
appealing a few more miles sounds, it would be stupid for me to pursue them (at
least for today). The unfortunate fact that I haven’t had much trail time in
the past few months (and my stomach was growling) called for me to end today’s
run on mile 5. I’m ok with that. I still have a sense of satisfaction and the
Trail Gods were good to me as I ran what turned out to be my own version of a
tough mud run with hills from hell that put my glutes in knots. Life is still
good…no, life is better. But this thinking is a common theme. Here is an example
of the internal arguments (think of having a good angel sitting on one
shoulder, and the evil angel sitting on the other shoulder) and A.D.D thoughts a
trail runner often experiences: “run more…”no it’s time to stop”…”no this
running feels so good don’t stop now”…”embrace the runner’s high”…”catch the
runner’s high again”…”your knees and hips are getting pissed”…“don’t stop! run
through the pain”…”your body parts will adapt”…”maybe if you stop for a second
and just stretch you can go that extra mile”…“spend the day doing what you love”…
“no, you have life obligations to tend to”…”who cares, life is better out here”…I
could go on and on. But anyone who knows the feeling of being in the woods with
just you, the mud, the hills, the elements, and the Trail Gods knows that the
experience is awesome, incomparable to other running workouts, thoughts are
born and sorted, and perspectives are realized making for a better life.
Embrace the trails and come out of the woods a physically and mentally stronger
person.
Happy running and happy trails!
~Cat~
