Decisions

Things have been different, ever since I finished the trail half marathon in May and had to switch gears to start thinking about the marathon I signed up for. This one was going to take place on Milwaukee city streets. Because I had almost exclusively trained on trails I had to make the conscious choice to add some asphalt runs back into the game.
You can probably tell by my approach to writing this introduction that I didn't like it. Motivation started lacking and I found reasons left and right to do "just this one" on the trail. I had build up expectations of how exciting it would be to run one of the local bike trails 15 miles from end to end. Well, it sucked. Almost from beginning to end. I didn't like it. I walked good portions of it dreading every step of the final 15th mile, determined to at least not have it beat me completely. I high-fived the number 15 marker and was glad to see Homebody and the little one at the end.

Whether it was my bad attitude about this last run or it really was the harder surface, my ankles took at toll from this run and I had to stop completely for a week, as I was afraid I would mess up something so badly, I wouldn't even get to marathon time.

Lucky for me my boss was a physical therapist in his former life and I asked him for advice ('cause as everyone who knows me knows, I wasn't going to see a doctor). He pulled out his anatomy book and showed me exactly which ligament it is that is causing the issue. He said that I could continue running on it and showed me some exercises that I can do to prepare them for better running. Done. That evening I was back on the trail.

My thoughts have since circled around saying goodbye to the road marathon and instead signing up for the one I had eyed from the beginning. A trail marathon in September. But I since my last long run didn't exactly go so well, I wanted to wait until I set out for another longer distance this weekend.

I decided to explore a new section of our local "Ice Age Trail", a single track hiking trail. I was sold before I came to the turn around point. I left just at sun rise (5am) on a Saturday morning (yes, I am crazy, no need to ask). But seeing the first rays of the orange morning sun through the trees and running along the Oconomowoc river, was breathtaking. Unfortunately, the pictures do not do it any justice.


I didn't see a single human. My acquaintances were deer, wild turkey, chipmunks (one kamikaze one that dared to run out right in front of my foot to see if it could be faster across than I would be forward. It made it, but I sure hope it was worth the adrenaline for that little guy), squirrels and a frog. I knew then what I had missed on the road (yes, you can see all these animals on the road, but I do prefer them alive). The decision as been made and this morning I signed up for the marathon at the North Face Endurance Challenge in Madison (although it isn't really in Madison, but I guess that's what they like to call it).