A renewed sense of self

It has been a rough last couple of weeks - personally and on the trails - and it's showing. Personally, I dread going to work. The job search sucks and it looks like I will be joining the company when it moves to Columbia, MD in late May. I'm not looking forward to the commute. It depresses me, so I sleep. I don't want to go to the office even at its current location. The thought of the everyday humdrum intensifies as the week goes on, and I have been 'sick' the past Friday of one week and Thursday of the previous week, respectively. I did work from home one day, but most recently, I just slept. Getting upwards from 10-12 hrs of sleep (sometimes thanks to Nyquil) just might be what the doctor (webMD?) ordered.


Trail wise, I have bailed out on almost all my weekend runs since running the Seneca Greenway marathon 3/1 and following it up with 16 miles on the southern part of the MMT course. On 3/8 was MMT run #3, where I pulled out at mile 17. I was done. I was hoping to get in more miles the following day on the Bull Run course, but stopped after 2 hours. At the Elizabeth Furnace 50k on 3/15, I bailed at the mile 22 aid station. My nutrition was better than it was the previous 2 weekends and I got in a few extra miles after going off course (twice), so I figured I was good for the day. This past weekend was the Chocolate Bunny 50k, which is a night run of the MMT course from 211E (mile 58.2) up to Woodstock (mile 84.1) with an out/back option to get a few more miles to make it a full 50k. So not doing the full 50k isn't really considered bailing out when it's 4:30am and you're cold and the car and warm clothes are right their waiting for you.

The runs had been bad, but getting progressively better, including the CB50K. I was happy with how I ran and how I felt even though I ran the first 1/3 alone. I was fine with that since I knew the course and don't expect to run with others come race day. I wanted to be sure I could navigate it on my own, and I did that. When I did catch up with a group of runners (on the downhills), it was disappointing to get dropped on the uphills. I know my weakness. I was a little upset to see that I ran 15 minutes slower than last year in better weather conditions, but I have to take some positives from the run in that I did well with my nutrition.

Even so, with about month left before tapering (something new I'm going to try), I'm going through a bit of a resurgence with training. I pulled out the calendar again and plotted out weekend training runs from now until early May. It will be tough, and I will be tired, and it's the weekday runs that are lacking, but it needs to get done. I've also decided to not row this spring and not play rugby. My social life sucks, I'm not a great runner, I'm not in the best MMT shape, I have my emotional ups and downs, I hate my job, but all that disappears when I hit the trails, and I love that feeling.