On the Trails Again

I had the chance to run the Xterra half again this year in Cheyenne Mountain State Park. It was cold and misty, but the trails were in better shape than last year, and it didn't seem that cold once we started running up. Tried to take it somewhat easy on the climb up the first five miles averaging just under 11 minute miles. At the next mile marker eight miles in, I'd dropped the average to 10 minute miles. The next two miles, did me in at 15 minute miles. I was struggling and had to really use my arms as my legs tightened up. I tried walking just a bit, but knew that if I stopped, I'd not be able to run again, so kept up a slow shuffle using my arms to power up the hills. It was during this section that I almost missed a turn. Hearing a runner behind me, I hollered back to her so that she wouldn't make the same mistake. When I saw who it was, I wanted to keep her behind me, but she eventually caught me. In our conversation, she made several excuses as to why she was going so slowly, then moved ahead of me and out of sight on the winding trail. I knew from passing her on the earlier downhill section that she didn't like the downhill. I rather like the thrill of bombing downhill even in the misty mud. When I got to the downhill portion of the race just before the finish, I could see three runners ahead of me who had all passed me during my uphill struggles a few miles back. A part of me wanted just to cruise in. I knew if I passed them, I'd have to keep running till the finish. I wasn't sure that I wanted to work that hard! But as the finish approached, I knew that I could catch them all, so I sprinted in and just barely caught all three of them. The race was a hard fought effort. There were many times that I struggled to keep pushing myself, but in that it was a victory. I did make up time even on the sections that I felt like I might be losing it. My time was seventeen minutes better than last year's. I'd like to be in good enough shape to run a race at Cheyenne that I truly enjoy. Maybe that means that I need to get running?

Lessons from the Barn

"I've got to clean out the stables since most of the horses are mine." That is what my daughter said as she swept under our dinner table. She was processing what her aunt had said to her a few days before when we had a chance to see her horses. That and she was making a chore fun in her usual way of pretending to be someone else. (I wonder who she got that trait from?) She was also speaking truth. If there aren't any horses in the barn, it stays clean, but it doesn't take on that warm, welcoming odor that is horse. There is no welcoming whinny when you open the door. Her words struck me in another context as I fixed dinner. If I wave goodbye to my little ones in the morning and welcome them from the bus at three in the afternoon, then my house has a chance of being swept and tidy. My garden might not be as full of weeds as it is of productive plants, but I would miss teaching my five-year-old to read, helping my seven-year-old write his first book, and getting binary lessons from my ten-year-old. I would miss so much if we didn't chose to home school. So today, I will attempt to smile as I make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, because my "barn" is warm and welcoming. It is filled to overflowing with joy and noise and life.