Taking a Step Back

For Misszippy- smoking cigars with my dad. It's amazing that he's going to be 71 in a few days.

Wow! What a crazy couple of weeks. I'll try and give an overview- I took two weeks for Christmas vacation to be with family and travel north. My trip went north from Mississippi to a couple of days in the Chapel Hill area of North Carolina, then north again for a few days in Delaware for Christmas proper, then up to a swinging, partying day and evening in Philadelphia, then over to NYC and Brooklyn for three nights, then back to Delaware (on the Delmarva peninsula) for New Years, then home via North Carolina again for two nights. I spent it all with family and friends and ate and drank my heart out. Unfortunately I also got sick about day six and pretty much stayed that way for most of the trip. 

5K with my family- some of us walked, some us ran, some did a combo, but we all did really well and had a super time together! My sister (# 352) recovering from a bad accident, could hardly walk this time last year, her and my mom (#366) did the 5K in about 50 minutes!

My brother Willie, niece Melissa and I running at Cape Henlopen Park. Yes, that is the Atlantic in the background. The camera did some weird distortions of our faces, or maybe it was the crazy seashore winds!

I never get sick, so this was a surprise but also extra painful for me. It was really bad for several days and then just lingered for the rest. While spending time with family and friends and moseying around museums in NYC is a great diversion it only prolongs the getting better part. The worst part is that I could not get in all my training runs. Not that it was all lost, I did get in some great runs with my brother and did a sweet 5K with my family, I only really ran five times during the whole 14 days. Not exactly what I wanted with such a big race coming up in March. Although my fitness is still good, my conditioning has taken a real hit. In order to make sure I don't get some crazy chest infection I really need to stay with easy runs 10 miles or less for the next week and that was not part of the training plans.


All of this has been cause for some great reflection and thought. I have an important sculpture exhibition to get ready for in a month and never mind that I have a new semester to start in about ten days. I started to feel as if this 50 mile race was becoming a burden. Yikes! Running a burden? Never! But in order to keep it that way I need to make sure I always go into my runs with enthusiasm and a clear goal. I was beginning to wonder what I had to gain from completing a 50 miler with way, way less than adequate training. So, I have made the choice to concentrate on the 50K. Considering how awful my first one was due to the weather, I have now made it my goal to kick ass on this one, get a PR and really learn how to run a 50K with everything I've got. I want to have a spring were I accomplish a lot of great things, not one where I do a few things OK and just do mediocre on a few others. Not my style. Now, all of the sudden I am excited again and the next few months feels full of promise. 


Decisions like this are not easy for me, I am not accustomed to taking a step back, but it really seems like the smart thing to do and offers for me a more obtainable goal that I can actually accomplish. The good thing about this race is that you can switch at any time between the races, so if for some crazy reason I finish the 50K feeling fresh I can always try and walk the rest of the 50 miles within the 12 hour time limit. Yea, we'll see how that plan goes...