Feeding It at the Woman Cave

Two hour run today, Sunday, wrapping up a total of 35 miles for the week. It's a start. I ran the Power Trail, I haven't been brave enough to venture down along Spring Creek Trail or the Poudre River to see the flood damage. I stuck to an easy ultra pace but picked it up for one mile just to move a little faster and see what the hamstring would tolerate. 8:54 pace was the limit. I sort of hoped I'd be able to handle a little faster than that. But the good news is, it didn't have a lasting effect, it was just being aware of it at that pace.

The one thing that did happen, which I have to laugh about, is that I chafed in places I usually never chafe. That's because there is even more of me than there was a few months ago. I've packed on the weight over the summer. My bicycle road tire feels like it's ready to graduate to motorcycle status. Maybe that's a little bit of exaggeration, maybe it's just a mountain bike tire, but I am carrying around a few extra pounds on top of the extra pounds I gained after last spring's racing season. Oh well, what can you do? It's stress and I feel confident that working out and feeling better will take the flesh away from my midsection quickly.

It will be a slow comeback but I'm not worried about it now. I'm still too distracted to get going with a solid strengthening program but I'm waiting until after this week when my life becomes mine again.

Last night Bard and Rikki stopped by with this t-shirt for me, I love his Feed Your Crazy concept and I wanted a t-shirt. I have always been antipathetic toward the use of "crazy" and "ultra" in the same sentence, because I feel that people running ultras are the sane ones and everyone on the couch is crazy, but when Bard first described this idea to me, I could completely relate to it.

This week we started out with the rain that would not go away, followed by a rainbow, followed by Buffaloes getting depressed about the weather and the fact that their dad was in Indianapolis for a conference, of all places. Now it's perfect fall weather and crisp in the mornings, and soon the bugs will be gone and my favorite riparian areas will be runnable again without aspirating six-legged flying critters.

The Equinox Half Marathon, which was supposed to be run down the Poudre Canyon today, was postponed. I originally signed up to run it, then I signed up to help with packet pickup, and then it was all cancelled. The cleanup from the floods is a huge operation, we still see helicopters flying overhead today. I don't know how long it will be before the hundreds of washed out roads and bridges are repaired or even passable.

I plan to run with Wheaties Boy this coming Wednesday, our first run together since last month when I was not ready to run. Now I'm ready, even if it is at a slower pace and shorter distance.

Then it got cold, and then the leaves started changing colors. Yes, I think 45 degrees is cold. Actually, it feels great, with socks and the heater on. It will take a lot of acclimatizing before I'm ready for freezing temperatures, but then, this is Colorado. We could have a blizzard next week.

One more week of my 12 hour shifts at work, and about a gazillion appointments jammed in between this week and next week, all good stuff. I know I'm doing better, because I must have worked at least 8 hours a day for the past 3 days on business-related stuff and I feel happy and I'm enjoying it, and I look forward to the next step with everything I've been working on. It's that Cziksentmihalyi "flow" phenomenon.

I'm ready for this week, and moving forward, feeding my crazy every day.