Playing catch up............................

(my) Mister took a well deserved break from OP care and went camping last weekend. For this reason I didn't run on Sunday, but made it up by doing two runs on Monday.

First, I went to some new trails about thirty minutes from my home. While not as steep as the ones that I will travel during the trail race in ten days, they gave me a good workout. By the end of the run I was feeling the ends of my toes from all the down hills.

I ran for close to an hour and a half (ended up not doing the full time because I allowed myself fifteen minutes to make my way out of the woods and it only took me five minutes because my angels helped me out. It was great to run a new trail and kept me interested looking at the new things so the time flew by much faster than the trees did as I was running. I broke all the rules and didn't have a map or anything, but I did tell someone I was going into the trails and I knew it was small enough that I wouldn't be in any real danger of getting totally and completely lost.

The great thing about trail running is that no matter the temp out in the sun it is always nice and cool in the woods. As long as you keep moving, the bugs are not really an issue either, and like I said there is always something new to see and explore so it really feels more like an adventure than a tough run.

As I mentioned above, I did a second run on Monday, about 3.5 miles. It seemed easier because of the flat surface, but tougher because it was still hot when I went out and I was tired from the previous run.

The real reason I did the second run is to make sure I was ready for the trail race, as I need to run two legs of it. I knew I was physically ready, but I like to actually do the work because that gives me a mental boost so if I get tired during the race I still know that I am more than capable to complete the distances.

I have been spending more time stretching and relaxing my mind in prep for the next two weekend's races. The more relaxed I am, the more I am going to enjoy the races, and isn't that what it is really all about? If I can't have fun there is no point in doing it. I have to find the joy in things to keep me motivated and moving as I already have enough things in my life that I have to do whether I enjoy them or not.