22 Miles of Something New

Orchards Outside of Odell, Oregon

An empty pad. Or, what feels like one at least. Here goes my attempt at marathoning out a summary of my large adventures over the past few months.

Crazy how much time has passed and how many new experiences have come and gone. I have moved from Bend to Hood River, started a new job at Dakine, explored much of the Columbia Gorge, looped around Mt. Hood in 27 hours, ran a marathon, re-learned how to skate vert, hiked with my parents, installed a sprinkler system and am now getting ready for winter. Not so fast. Before I get ahead of myself I need to reflect on the past few months one adventure at a time.

I stopped publishing my writing and updating social media consistently over the past few months. Not sure why, I just haven’t. I wasn’t into it. I lacked the excitement in sharing my experiences with others and started living this almost weird solo adventure life. Many would say the excitement that once boiled in my head and bubbled in my voice was gone. At least that is how I felt.

Event: 22 Mile Run
Date: August 7, 2016
Entry: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1293627936

Shortly after starting my new job I got an itch to train for a 50K that was slated for late October. I knew my fitness was good, but did not have a real pulse on things. According to my 50K training program, at this point I should have been capable of running 22 miles. The question of my current fitness capability bounced in my head. Was I capable of running 22 miles? I’d ran 13 miles here, 5 miles there and mixed in a variety mountain biking, hiking and other outdoor activities.

I was willing to giver and that is just what I did on August 7th.  The run was a bit weird, but it was new. New roads, new smells, new things. I ran from my parents home on York Hill out past a small town called Odell and back.

My run was successful, but unlike runs in the past I lacked the huge sense of accomplishment. Maybe it is because my body has been trained to seemingly run 22 miles with very little effort. It is like clock work. Sounds real weird to the average walker by, but if you saw my running resume it would make sense.

Sadly, my motivation to continue training and stay committed to the 50K weathered just like so many other things in life as of recent. 50K fit is built on habit and not overnight wims or one day attempts to run 22 miles. I knew this but seemed to have fallen into this go balls out then do very little training for a week, then go balls out again. The routine was bad and getting worse. This is no way to train for any aspect of life. I should know better. A week would pass before running again.

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