It’s Thursday afternoon, less than twenty four hours before
I leave to head down for perhaps my favorite race , “Terrapin
Mountain”.
I leave with mixed feelings, as excited as I am about the
race I dread what I need to do in the next twelve hours to prepare. Our host
for the weekend has a wonderful home, yet there are not enough bathrooms for the number of guests for anyone to have the luxury to ponder
life, complete a Sudoku puzzle or read “Gone With the Wind” cover to cover while on
the Throne. Therefore as part of this year’s training I’ve discovered a devastating,
totally effective solution …. A single Dulcolax and a couple beers. Yep, sometime
tomorrow morning (hopefully by four or five A.M.) I’ll be clean as a whistle,
mean and nasty, ready to focus that energy on the mountain….. Well at least I
have a plan.
Since I haven’t written for some time I guess I should fill
in some blanks.
It’s been a tough winter for us “weak winter” Maryland
people. Snow and Ice covered the ground in a blanket of white/grey for ten
weeks straight. On the mountain we had a stretch of four or five weeks that
never saw an above freezing high temperature. Running was reduced to waddling
out in heavy clothes mainly on plowed roads as trails were simply too nasty. In
a word it … sucked.
I am now more than ever convinced of the benefits of running
and perhaps the timing of running. Since my normal schedule has been
interrupted my dependence on pain killers has jumped a lot. I am very hopeful
that once I can get back to a “Normal” running schedule this will change. I am
of the opinion that an early morning endorphin hit set my day in a positive
framework. Looking back I can see that many days “going south” were saved by an
early or midafternoon run to get “my fix”.
I may be writing to myself, it does not matter as this has helped me
to go back, allowing me to keep everything in perspective, I am fortunate that I seem to easily forget
hardships.
It’s my mother’s Birthday, she’s been gone two years now.
Still I have few words, even as I placed flowers on her grave this morning.
Happy Birthday Mom, you’re always with me.
