Tomorrow morning I'm going on another trail run. I'm a little leery of trail running during wet fall weather. I envision slipping down a steep ravine and all kinds of other horrible things, but on the positive side, if I don't twist an ankle or go careening down the ravine...trail running is much gentler on the body. I'm getting increasingly weary of the total pounding my muscles take with extensive road running. Trail runners don't necessarily have to be fast either. That's a big plus...cause I seem to be getting slower every year. Trail runners just have to be kind of crazy... lots of endurance. When you think of trail running you think of those superhuman folk, the ultra-runners that run seemed inhuman distances (50) miles or more for literally half the day.
In my pursuit of mid-life balance, I don't think I'm ever going to be able to carve out 7-8 hours devoted strictly to running through the woods. I would surely end up divorced and estranged from my family and friends. I do admire the people that do it. I envy that when they are not looking at the ground avoiding tripping on tree roots...they must have time to really get in touch with nature and revel in pushing their bodies to the limit. Why do the majority of trail runners end up doing such freakish distances? I've met only one trail runner that does reasonable distances of 5 or 6 miles. Ultra-running is fast becoming a sport of middle-life upper socioeconomic level men and women with lots of discretionary time and income. Of course, there are those exceptional super time-managing moms that manage to run 20 miles in between errands carting the kids back and forth and working full-time to boot, but I will never be included in their ranks. I'm curious about it though and it sounds like a good project. I am going to learn to be a trail runner and learn my around some of the beautiful trails without running such obnoxious distances. Running is vital to my mental and physical health but I've got to keep all those other plates spinning!
When I get home from my trail run, I'm hoping to be sufficiently contented on whirling endorphins to endure the baby shower for my sister-in-law tomorrow. There will be 40 of her doting aunts and lots of baby blue baby paraphenalia and the mandatory oohs and aahs over each tiny onsie and little outfit. My kids are school age now and while I enjoyed my baby showers immensely...I've been there and done that!!! Can't wait!
In my pursuit of mid-life balance, I don't think I'm ever going to be able to carve out 7-8 hours devoted strictly to running through the woods. I would surely end up divorced and estranged from my family and friends. I do admire the people that do it. I envy that when they are not looking at the ground avoiding tripping on tree roots...they must have time to really get in touch with nature and revel in pushing their bodies to the limit. Why do the majority of trail runners end up doing such freakish distances? I've met only one trail runner that does reasonable distances of 5 or 6 miles. Ultra-running is fast becoming a sport of middle-life upper socioeconomic level men and women with lots of discretionary time and income. Of course, there are those exceptional super time-managing moms that manage to run 20 miles in between errands carting the kids back and forth and working full-time to boot, but I will never be included in their ranks. I'm curious about it though and it sounds like a good project. I am going to learn to be a trail runner and learn my around some of the beautiful trails without running such obnoxious distances. Running is vital to my mental and physical health but I've got to keep all those other plates spinning!
When I get home from my trail run, I'm hoping to be sufficiently contented on whirling endorphins to endure the baby shower for my sister-in-law tomorrow. There will be 40 of her doting aunts and lots of baby blue baby paraphenalia and the mandatory oohs and aahs over each tiny onsie and little outfit. My kids are school age now and while I enjoyed my baby showers immensely...I've been there and done that!!! Can't wait!