toughest week on memory

I've been tired, who hasn't, but this is the kind of deep fatigue one gets when they've repeatedly beat themselves once you're already down. My schedule of late was calling for an overload and my buddy Tony helped in setting the stage. About a fortnight ago he rang me and brought to my attention a 10-miler @ William O'brien in Marine on St Croix. Initially, we both thought it was on a Saturday which made it impossible for myself to go as I couldn't escape work on that Friday. However, I later discovered it fell on a Sunday and the tables were turned. The half marathon (give or take some) is my least favorite which makes the opportunity to compound the affect I was after much more likely. Besides, neither of us had ever raced the distance and were looking for something new along w/a venue. As the state budget agreement doesn't look positive, I felt happy going to a park on that weekend because those who signed up for Afton may miss a shot coming next! Beginning last Monday, I started off w/Clint & his puppy(cinnamon) running an easy loop of singletrack which lasted an hour. Tuesday, a noose around my neck tightened w/each passing day. There would be two more additional runs @ 40 & 50 minutes and three bike rides @ ~2 1/2 hours each. Volume was nothing impressive, the fact that I performed everyone of these efforts in the tempo/lactate zone is what had me smashed before Saturday came around. Plus, 72 hours of straight rain made it a challenge to get outside and accomplish all this too. We spoke the evening prior to get confirmation that it was a green light and I silently hoped he would say,..."lets just stay home and run the powerlines" but not a chance!! Oh well, this forced me to iron out my skirt and follow thru w/my plan. I had a couple mugs of cold press toddy for each of us and we were on the road by 5 AM. Former Duluthian, Jeff Allen, would let everyone know that it was indeed 10 1/2 miles so we'd be getting more for our buck! Let me tell ya, I could have gone w/o that extra half mile but then I wouldn't have caught T-dawg in the uphill finish either. Constant terrain was nice but the lack of roots & rocks didn't require athletes to possess any degree of technical valor. I sort of need that stimulus to light the inner fire to drive on forward. We started way in the back and very casual which made quite an opposition when the route funneled into a narrow path immediately. Erik Escher tried hard early to make the selection and was gone from our visual. Dynamics can play out oddly and had I known I was just going to be a rabbit as I charged out to the furthest aid station where we would regroup as I slowed down for water I would have rather stayed back to work as a domestique. I would now be that same 75 meters behind Tony for the next 5 miles as it was too difficult for me to bridge the gaps he put between us on the descents. A version of his accounts including results can be found here.

At the moment, I've still got exhausted legs and my training has been OK since but expect it to take a sometime yet to be normal. I miss the buzz of the trail running scene and keeping an eye on the WS 100 only amplified it. This has me thinking of the possibility surrounding the commencement of my cyclocross campaign. Warm air in that sport makes me dislike it and nor does such conditions compliment its origin. Being a diverse athlete who can switch both disciplines and energy systems within a short time frame is something I continue to strive in achieving. So, I guess a proposal has been established for me.

Otherwise, life is always busy at home but recently I helped the Pipho family unload a bunch of their furniture from a holding container into their new home on Exhibition Drive. Beautiful place and it was a frustrating wait(11 months) to settle in as it had to be gutted from a mold infestation. That was a couple weeks ago and Dave seemed much relieved @ his 40th birthday party that his lovely wife, Amy, thru for him on Sunday!

Fourth of July will involve copious beer drinking, sailboating, golf scramble, food, and pyrotechnics! Thoughts of finding a local event sounded all fine & dandy as the holiday falls on a Monday this year but family doesn't ever give a shit racing, so, I'm just going to leave that one be...