Ordered Chaos

Trail running mud bath

A decision to register for a 50-mile race comes with sacrifice. Of course, there are the obvious ones: 4- to 6-hour long runs on the weekends, after school hours on the trail, income allocated to running gear & registration fees. Then there are the not-so-obvious: pricey grocery bills for elevated caloric needs, early weekend nights before morning long runs, and maybe surprise visitors inside your shoes on a muddy trail.

Last fall I enthusiastically trained for the same 50-mile race, only to be left injured and unable to run consistently for a couple months. It was part of a plan that was to culminate in a 100-mile race this June. Needless to say, without the foundation of my plan in place, the entire plan crumbled to the ground. Well, kind of.

I spent the winter cross training and rediscovered my love of yoga. With a more balanced routine, I fully resumed training in February, just in time to run the Free State Trail Marathon about a month ago. It was a blast! Aside from the discovery of a new form of nutrition on the run (Nutella tortilla wraps), the race re-focused my efforts go long…really long.

Now, registered again for the North Face Endurance Challenge 50-Miler this coming September, my training has accelerated. In an effort to ramp the mileage before heading to Kenya in less than a month, I joined a few friends for 25 miles on the trail yesterday. Assured by local meteorologists that there was just a “slight chance of storms”, we were greeted on the trail by a gorgeous sunrise at 6am. Three miles later, mother nature’s true hospitality manifested itself in wind, rain and hail. As trail runners, we fully understand that the unpredictable terrain is in large part what lures us away from the monotony of road running. A little unpredictable weather completes the harmony that is inherent to going off-road.

Seven miles in, I am overcome with a new sensation. As my foot sweeps through the grass, I catch a thistle with my right shoe. At least, I though I was wearing shoes. The ease with which that thorn pierced my shoe, tore through my sock, and came to rest under my toenail has me thinking otherwise. A mile later, I would confirm this suspicion by removing my shoe and extracting said thorn. The sight of blood upon removal was complemented by much-needed pain relief. Perfect, now all I have to do is run 17 more miles!

In the company of supportive friends, mutual accountability, and personal motivation, anything is possible. Upon reflecting on yesterday’s jaunt through the woods, I am reminded that the path ahead is forever unpredictable. There are times to stop, times to take a break, and times to simply adjust and keep moving. Last year I had to stop. I don’t know what will happen between now and the 50-mile race in September. But, if I can retain the ability to distinguish between hiccups and choking hazards, I will keep moving forward, one stride at a time.

Whether under pressure at work, at home or via social expectations of a “new you”, a new year can really be bittersweet. “What’s your New Year’s resolution?” To never ask anyone that question. Okay, I’ve never been one to make resolutions myself, simply because I consider January 1st an arbitrary day to declare newness.  I wonder, did people redefine themselves in March before Julius Caesar’s adoption of the solar calendar? Too bad for humanity during that first year in the solar calendar – they had to fail twice within the same “year” at becoming new.

Either way, however jaded I’ve become in my view of resolutions, maybe I’ve made a couple for 2010. Here’s one: to cross a big-ticket item off my list. Luckily I have a loving wife to support me in my decision to do so.  In June I’ll travel to Kenya for a month to volunteer teach elephants. Wait, I might see elephants, but I’ll actually be teaching children. My mind is in Africa overload. I’ll live with a Kenyan family, partake in Kenyan cuisine, and hopefully run with Kenyan…runners.

So maybe resolutions aren’t all that bad, even if they sometimes manifest themselves in sweaty, overcrowded gyms and cell-phone-toting treadmill walkers. Other times, people get to go to Africa.

About a week ago, I found myself taking part in an act of idiocy – I registered for a 50-mile race in Wisconsin on October 24th.  Though it fits into my long term plan to ascend the trail running staircase to a 100-miler, I still am left wondering why anyone would do this. Time will only tell.  Well, time and pain…and hunger and blisters and dehydration and glycogen depletion. Seriously, what am I thinking?!?

During a long trail run with Scott this summer, we exchanged goals, both intellectual and physical, and I vocalized the principle that hangs like an umbrella over my life: to do something each year that extends beyond the realm of my past achievements.

Last year I ran my first 50k, and it was glorious.  I felt great throughout the race and even had enough left in the tank to kick at the end. A banner day, really. Though I can’t plan on that happening on any given day, I’m trying to convince myself that the only difference between a 50k and a 50mi race is a couple arbitrary letters.  And so go the mind games. Those very mind games will either wreak havoc or act as my savior during the race…though both will likely occur.

However, come race day, no matter how mentally prepared I am, I also must be physically prepared, and to that extent I have a lot of work to do. Hours of running, miles of pounding, gallons of sweating. Left, right, repeat as necessary. It’s so simple, yet so difficult. But at the end of the year, I’ll have peace of mind in knowing that I did something this year that I’ll never forget, at least one “moment” that can help define 2009.  Cool.

After being holed up in a plane for a bundle of hours, good ole Oakland welcomed us with open arms. Then we immediately left. Sorry, Oakland, you’re just a stepping stone to San Francisco.

Maybe out of habit from last summer’s trip to Europe, we hit the road on foot to explore The City. Because we stayed in Fisherman’s Wharf, we found no shortage of tourist traps. So, after a quick lunch on the water (shrimp sandwich & mussels), we continued our coastal walk toward Ghirardelli Square. Turns out they have respectable chocolate.

That night we Yelp’d to find a decent sushi joint and were pleasantly surprised by Sushi on the North Shore -Katsu. Now we’re hooked on Yelp, and its accompanying iPhone app.

The next day I was determined to run over the Golden Gate Bridge, even though we were staying 3.5 miles from it. The approach was magnificent, as the bridge stood half-masked by fog. After traversing the bridge both ways, my return to the coastal trail proved to be a bit tricky as construction workers had barracaded my original path. No problem, add yet another mile and back to the hotel.

Our day’s journey took us to Berkelely, where we meandered through UC’s campus and had substandard Thai food. No worries, though, Berkeley cuisine would be redeemed on the following day’s visit.

After heading back to SF, we decided to stroll through Pier 39 for some sights and smells. Smells being the beautiful scent of hundreds of sea lions basking on their floating docks. It almost rivals the inevitable “who farted?” smell on I-80 in Nebraska. *almost*

Probably the highlight of our time in The City was a restaurant suggestion from Rahul, a friend we’d now like to hire as our west coast travel agent. Green’s is an all-vegetarian restaurant located in Fort Mason, right on the water. Our Scottish server was a joy, and the food was out of this world. How could it get any better? Answer: half-prices bottles of wine. ‘Nuff said.

Stay tuned for our journey to, arrival in, and subsequent endulgence of Sonoma County.

And we’re off! Yes, maybe California is still but a glimmer of hope in our crazy lives, but we are a state closer during our layover in Denver.

This morning Al got home from work at about 1am, and it wasn’t until I programmed our coffee maker that I realized I could get 2.5 hours of sleep only if I laid down right then and fell asleep on my descent to the pillow. Our status can be summed up in the photo below.

Oh, and another thing – we’ll hopefully be blogging a little more along our journey through San Francisco (or “The City” as our west coast friends call it), and ultimately through wine country. However, we might be blogging solely from my phone. So let this be the first of hopefully many iPosts. And if I misspell a word or twenty, you’ll understand why (i.e. not because of the wine…probably).

Cheers!