High Five By 55

My Miami Marathon pacing experience has put me in a place I have rarely encountered since beginning running in 2016. I am completely and totally devoid of motivation to run. I'm so bummed by the entire experience that I just don't feel like heading out the door right now. This is not an uncommon experience for runners as I understand it, but it has been uncommon for me. In fact, I can't remember a single time in at least the past 5 years when I've felt this way. Sure, a day here or there where I didn't want to run crept in. Or a series of days where I wasn't super excited about it, but still mostly wanted to go. But this time is different. This time I really don't want to go run. So I'm going to just go with that for a little while...sort of. I have a dog that needs his exercise and loves running, so I'll run with him daily. But I'm not going to do any specific training, at least for a few days, perhaps even a few weeks. I'll let the funk be ...

The Miami Marathon. It's by far my favorite marathon to pace of those I have run. I love the course. I love the energy. I love the people. I just love it. And I've been looking forward to pacing at the Miami Marathon for months, almost as much as I looked forward to my own race at California International Marathon last year. But, alas, I had my worse performance as a pacer ever at the Miami Marathon yesterday. A truly shitty day. One that has me questioning marathoning (and definitely pacing) until I figure some things out. (Warning: poop content begins below. I meant "shitty day" quite literally. No photos, though.) I was set to pace the 3:20 group at the marathon. This is the fastest group I had ever paced, and had only done it once before. On that prior attempt, I missed my time slightly, as I had to make a late 24th mile emergency porta-potty pitstop and just couldn't catch up in the small amount of course left. But I had no concern about the pace for the Miam...

I seek adventure. I seek journeys. I seek experiences. A big reason I do any of this running from 5ks to mountain ultramarathons is this pursuit of adventure. And yes, a 5k can be an adventure. An internal one. But an adventure nevertheless. And in some respects, among the hardest I've tried since it's just me against myself. But mostly I'm seeking adventure in grand places, preferably with pleasant company. Though I very much do also like to spend time alone. This High Five By 55 idea is really the pursuit of the grandest adventure and journey. It's not about completing any single race. It really is about the journey that prepares me to get to that race. And that race my never happen. Who knows. The ultimate practice I want to take out of this project is remaining focused on the journey instead of any discrete step. I wrote about Bighorn doubts yesterday. That's focus on the discrete step. It's okay. I should have doubts. A mountain ultramarathon is never easy ...

I can't say why. There's no good reason for why. There's plenty of time to get ready. Yet I find myself with deep doubts and misgivings about being ready for Bighorn 100 in June. Once I'm done pacing Miami Marathon this Sunday, the training will very much focus on being ready for Bighorn 100. And I'm not racing the event, not trying to meet any time goal. I just want to go to the race, finish the race, practice being challenged and trying to remain comfortable in discomfort for a long period of time in the mountains. Yet, I'm really apprehensive. More apprehensive than I was the second time I prepared for Ouray 100, a significantly more challenging race.  Perhaps it's because I will not have run a 100 miler in nearly 2 years by the time Bighorn rolls around. Maybe it's because I'm using a lower mileage training plan, though that's also what I used for Ouray. Maybe it's because I've kind of taken a lackadaisical approach to planning for th...

Yesterday I paced at the Vero Beach Half Marathon. I do really enjoy pacing even at a smaller race like this was. A little local thing, not a huge field, but a bunch of people just trying to have a good time and see what they are capable of. And me there to help a few of them along. It was a rather cold morning for South Florida, 46 degrees at the starting gun. It made for a perfect morning to run hard, though a very chilly one to be pacing at an easy pace. I was unusually untalkative during the run, though I think that made sense. When pacing a marathon, I try to engage my group with some simple dialog. Nothing requiring more than a two or three word answer, but a little chit chat. I didn't do that yesterday. And the truth is, at half marathon pace, holding even a short conversation shouldn't be very manageable.  The course was pretty, though a bit windy with lots of twists and turns through a variety of neighborhoods. Not a course I was going to memorize ahead of time. It als...

A random thought this morning. I don't want race swag. Not a t-shirt. Not a medal. And absolutely, positively not all the other bric-a-brac that's often found in the race "swag bag."  As I type this, I have most of the race bibs from races I've participated in hanging behind me. 50 race bibs. 50ish times I've been given a shirt and a medal or buckle. And 50ish times I've gotten a bunch of other chachkies that generally went into the trash within 24 hours.  Of those 50 shirts, there might be a dozen I've worn more than once or twice and half a dozen I actual like. The rest might have gotten used to paint in or as a rag or worn once during a training run and left somewhere when it was removed as I got too hot. The medals and buckles, there's a grand total of one I give a darn about. The rest sat in a a bag for months and years until I recently hung them up in my running gear closet, where they still are largely hidden away and unseen. It all feels so...

Today I've woken up extremely sore. Mostly in the butt, but in the legs in generally. I haven't done any training that is particularly intense. However, I have layered on a bunch of new types of stress really quickly. I think this is the culprit. I had been in a pretty rhythmic training structure for several months. Easy run, hard run, easy run, hard run, rest, easy run, long run. Repeat. The body was pretty accustomed to that rhythm. But in the past few weeks I've layered on some light strength and stability work and I've added recovery yoga (which is still pretty intense for me) and a weight vest when walking the dogs and, in the past week, incline treadmill hikes. None of that which very much volume and none of it with terribly high intensity. But all of it is new to my body after months in the previous rhythm. Maybe it was all layered on too quickly. So, this morning I skipped the strength and stability workout. This evening I'll still run, but I may not do the ...