Four days till Nashville...

Well after running pretty hard Wednesday (for me) and still having some lower leg tenderness I decided to back off for a couple of days and try to get one middle distance run in before the 50 miler this weekend.
So I took Thursday, Friday and the first party of Saturday off and waited till the sun went down to run Saturday. Tried to make myself take it easy and back off the pace a bit and had a pretty decent run (13 miles). Started out with some pain early on but a few miles in I felt pretty good.
This is always a frustrating phenomenon for me. About the time I feel really comfortable cardio wise something starts hurting or becomes irritated.

My plan between now and Saturday is just to rest, stretch and maybe do some light workouts on the elliptical, stair stepper or other low impact cross training.
I'm doing my best to not get stressed out about it but now is always the time when it is so easy to question the quality, quantity and intensity of your training as well as the many other factors that could cause you to not be as successful as you have built yourself up to be.

I am convinced that I must strive to keep negative thoughts at bay and continue to just enjoy the blessings I have in family, friends and health. Whenever, I become bummed I think way back to the first run off the couch when things felt terrible and I got through it.

This is why I love races that are new to me. Whether in the heart of Nashville or the mountains of Alabama I try to savor the spirit of adventure that goes into a race you have never done. Add to that the excitement that both of the races coming up on my horizon are brand new and not attempted by anyone. I have been surprised to hear some people say they don't have interest in going to new races due to the usual snafus associated with them. To me that is part of the adventure, besides the fact that I someday hope to be a race director and am willing to learn all I can on the athlete side before switching to the directing side.

So that is where I'm at this evening. Relaxing and trying to keep stress at bay. My wife is on fall break so I have the opportunity to spend some great time with my family and be reminded of what it's all about.
They are all coming to Nashville to root me on which is really encouraging. My wife is such a trooper bringing two toddlers to an ultra to watch me run for hours. Of course she'll probably take the kids on some detours but they will be there at the end to see me finish. My kids are at the age when I constantly wonder what there first memory will be and I can't help but hope it is of their daddy, victorious coming across a finish line telling them they can do anything they set their minds too.