Set backs...they're a part of training

Thursday morning, Peter and I left the house at 6am for a longer run in the woods! It was gorgeous out and not a cloud in the sky. I managed to get away with shorts, short sleeved shirt and arm warmers. A few weeks ago Pete and I moved to a new suite which is much lower down than where we were before. This is great because all of our runs now have more elevation gain and take longer than they used to. We headed up the steep mountain highway ascent, followed by a grunt up Dempsey to Breamar, where we were able to pop onto the trail. We followed the powerlines to mosquito creek and headed up a trail which we have run by several times, however, have never explored!

The sign at the beginning of the trail states "not well maintained"...they were right! But, with that said, there is obviously someone out there that does a little bit of work on it because it was well groomed in parts and the direction to follow is marked. The trail spat us out on the 6th switchback of old mountain highway. We proceeded to run up to seventh secret and down pipeline trail. I had never been on this Mt. Bike trail, which is crazy because it was sooo fun!!!! There was even a teeter-todder that I was a little hesitant to run over but with a little trash talking from Peter, I got the job done.

2 hours and 45 min later we were back at home and ready to take on the day.

Later that night I was feeling great and decided to plug in the ipod and hit the road for a change. I just wanted to get the legs moving and thought an easy road run would be perfect. I was no more than 15 minutes into my run when at the last minute I decided to run along the barkmulsh trail which runs along the highway on 25th street. I was feeling really fresh and as I descended off the barkmulsh and onto the concrete/gravel path, I took a massive bail. I supermanned it large but mostly all on my left side. There are literally scrapes on all body parts- ankle, shin, knee, thigh, wrist, forearm, shoulder, and both hands. Alright time to stop whining!!!



I could have run back home right away but because I was feeling so good, even after the fall, I just rolled with it and finished up the 45 minutes I had intended to do. I dealt with the wounds once I was home and hopefully it won't be too stiff tomorrow!!! There's nothing like a good fall to make you feel like a warrior...

I meant to post this last week, so it is a little dated. Since the fall I have taken it a bit easy. The scrape was very stiff and very uncomfortable and left me with little range of motion in my knee. Today, monday, I am finally ready to tackle a long run, which I missed out on over the weekend. I did manage to sneak in a hike up the BCMC on Saturday to get the leg moving and a hike up to Eagle Bluff at the start of Knee Knacker on Sunday.

Tomorrow Peter and I jump on a plane from Bellingham to Vegas to pursue our Grand Canyon adventure. R2R2R here we come!!!!! I am so excited, it is going to be shockingly beautiful!!!

I'll leave you with this little thought I had the other day. Have you ever thought about the word ENDUREance? I was thinking about it on my hike yesterday- our willingness to endure pain, suffering, joy, bliss, highs, lows, etc. I think that would describe some of the feelings we endure in an ultra.

See you in the trails!!!