I don't wanna get outta bed today...

Sublime's song Burritos was rolling through my head during my run this morning. I have to admit, some days it is hard to get out of the door to run. The funny thing is the mornings when I want to stay in bed, things turn out pretty good when I finally get out. I may leave the house with the expectation of having a shitty run, but 15 minutes into the run things get straighten out and I begin to get that floating feeling.

The mental aspect of training mimics the cycles of running 100 miles. The ups and downs, highs and lows all come and go. Eventually going past the mental blocks and physical pain we enter deep within the Self. At mile 90 all the extra stuff is still floating somewhere on the surface of consciousness, but we are so tired we become unattached to the power and influence of our physical and mental body.The spirit takes over and we continue moving to whatever finish line is awaiting us.

Mile 95 at the Cascade Crest 100, I learned to let go. Exhaustion, pain, and all of the other stuff that can be expected with running 100 miles drifted away as I pushed towards the finish line. To bad it took me 23 hours of of beating myself up to learn to let go. Hopefully in the future whenever pain and self doubt take a hold, I can take a deep breath and let it drift away...

Keep on rolling:)

National Trails Day

Busy weekend! As mentioned in my previous post, June 6th was National Trails Day and Pierre and I joined with a crew of 120 volunteers to work on the Tahoe Rim Trail near Daggert Summit. The Tahoe Rim Trail Association put on the event, and I was thoroughly impressed with their vision and dedication towards preserving this beautifull resource! If anyone is looking for a relaxed way to get their Trail Work hours in the future, I highly recommend volunteering for National Trails Day. We were served breakfast lunch and dinner, got to work in a beautiful setting, and we were the first to run a new section of trail!

(Pierre bringing down the hammer!)

Later that night, we met up with John and had the inaugraul Beer and Pizza night run. First we went to Grand Central Pizza in Carson City (50% off for TRT runners) and had our pizza and pitcher of Fat Tire. After thoroughly gorging ourselves we hit the Spooner trailhead at 9:30. The course was 16.5 miles, finishing with the climb up Snow Peak (9000ft.) and then the descent to Spooner. The conditions were difficult (fog and snow), but we were gratefull to be done at 12:30 (no one puked!).

(Pierre and John)

The next day we started late (9am.) and opted to only run 45 miles of the TRT100 course (instead of the previously perscribed 50 mile). Blue skies and comfortable temperatures was a welcomed relief from the rain and fog of the previous night!

What a great weekend! Trail Work completed + 61 miles of runing in 24 hours = Just about ready for TRT100:)

Prep work

Finally recovered from post Miwok injuries, I have begun ramping up the mileage in preparation for TRT100.

A couple of runs/vacations have me particularly excited! This weekend I will be going to Tahoe to with Pierre-Yves to participation in National Trails Day. This seemed like a fun way to get my trail work done for TRT100 and Cascade Crest 100, as well as spend a day working amidst beautiful alpine scenery and elevation.

The Tahoe Rim Trail Website had this description:

"We will be celebrating National Trails Day by breaking ground on the Daggett Summit Trails System. This multi-year project will reroute the last remaining paved section of TRT into the forest. Our National Trails Day event will break ground on a connecter trail in Lake Tahoe Nevada State Park -Van Sickle and Stateline/South Lake Tahoe. The day will start with a ground breaking ceremony and breakfast treats for all volunteers. Grab a free bag lunch and spend the day volunteering with the Tahoe Rim Trail Association and partners, including Nevada State Parks, US Forest Service, and California Tahoe Conservancy."

After trail work, the plan is to meet up with fellow RhoQuick teammate John Burton and run the Snow Peak part of the TRT100 course during the night. The only problem is there might be some thunderstorms and snow, so we will wait and see what the conditions are.

Sunday the plan is to run the 50 mile section of the TRT100 with Pierre, and John. Although it is supposed to be a bit cooler and 30% chance of rain, it should be great to see the entire TRT100 course. Hopefully updates will be forthcoming.