There are certain days that start out crappy and then blossom into something magical. Today is one of those days. I am sitting here dripping sweat onto my Mac Air trying to capture in words one of my best runs ever before the memories and emotions disappear.
Over 2 months ago I injured myself pretty good running The Atacama Crossing (for a list of my injuries see here) and had to take time off to heal. Last week I started training again and went on my daily 10 mile run. I was disappointed when at the finish I was 10% slower than normal. For a endurance runner this is very bad news. Over the weekend I did back to back days each doing my 10 mile training route( +1,873 / -1,777 elevation) and took a couple of percentage points off each day.
Today was a magical run. Was not planning to go out until later in the evening when it was cooler. My lunch meeting canceled and I was frustrated with work and decided at the last minute what the hell, let’s go run. I knew something was different about today from the start. My iPod is always on shuffle mode and tune after tune were perfectly timed with the terrain I was on. The sun was shining on me with a slight breeze to keep me cool. It was 87 degrees with 31% humidity, for Colorado this is “wet”, but I did not care. In fact I didn’t even notice a thing. I was lost in the rhythm of my run. I thought about the first chapter of the book I am writing about Endurance Running and being an Entrepreneur. I wrote it over the weekend and I describe the immense pain and suffering I faced on day 4 of my race when I torn my hip flexor and almost quit. Something magical happened to me when that happened. I was faced with a impossible choice: quit and protect my body and suffer in my heart or suffer over 75 miles with a major injury and MAYBE find peace. I am not going to ruin the ending to my book but it is good. Suffice to say these remembrances danced in my head to the rhythm of my run and maybe it was these memories of a time I really suffered that propelled me to a personal record today. I shaved 8 minutes off my best time for this run!
Some of the credit I think goes to my new framework of thought around perceived suffering but some of the credit needs to go to my partners. Over the past 6 months I am been very fortunate to have a great team of individuals and companies believing in me and what I am trying to accomplish with IANA. Most notably I have to thank PureSport. My degree is in science and I have a minor in Human Performance so snake oil concoctions that are constantly being pushed have never met with belief from me. I know the science behind performance but nothing has impressed me as much as this companies products. I am a believer in both their Workout and Recovery products and believe that they helped rehab me and no I am not being paid by them. I just think it works.
So now I have to come back to reality and get back to work, but my personal triumph today will be a fond memory that I will reflect on when times get tough.
Mike – IANA
