Seriously Josh? Months and months of nothing to talk about? The truth is, I haven't had much to talk about because I've just been plugging along. I should have written up a race report for the Bryce 100 back at the end of May, but Craig did such a great write-up, I really didn't have much more to say than what he covered. You can read his report HERE if you want to hear about that adventure.
This training season has been quite a change from past years. Everyone needs a break, right? I've taken that to heart this year and gone with the "less is more" approach, meaning that I'm running less but feeling like I'm gaining more from it. We'll just say I'm really well rested. That's not to say that I haven't been running, but I've switched to fewer mid-week shorter runs and gone with more long runs on the weekends. My body likes it for sure, but in truth I've probably lost a little bit of speed because of it. I'm ok with that though. I've had the opportunity to get out on some great adventures with friends, such as running the entire Bryce 100 with three of my best friends, MVH's amazing Millwood 100 experience, the annual Quest For King's Marathon, introducing some trails virgins to their first run on the trails, and running Timp a couple times tonight with my friend Jennilyn. I've had some great runs by myself as well, but this year I've been trying to soak in more of the experience than just focusing on my own performances.
Craig has done a great series of write-ups over on trailandultrarunning.com that have really got me thinking as well. I've been known to make plenty of excuses in the past (and still make plenty in my own head), but I've really tried to limit them as much as possible this year. I've been going through lots of personal things in recent months, but instead of making excuses to other people, I've focused on internalizing them and grinding out runs when I wouldn't have in the past. It's been a game changer for sure. What's also made it easier is that I'm running fewer days and thus MUST make the days I do run count. No excuses. Refuse to quit.
With that said, I've got two weeks until Wasatch. I decided I want to run with pacers again this year (again, for the camaraderie), but I have no real time expectations this time around. I'll just go out and have some fun running with some friends all day long. Don't get wrong, this doesn't mean I won't push myself to have the best race possible, but I'm laying off the expectations I typically set and hopefully I come out with a good performance. Excited to soak it all in again! Best of luck to everyone running out there.
