Message posted by: Lauri F.

I'm in southern VA at the tail end of a 2 week business trip. When I travel I like to partake in as much local stuff as I can. Today I was done at noon so I decided to do a run on the infamous Virginia Creeper Trail.

Those of you familiar with my trail past know I'm as relevant to trail running as Cam Cameron currently is to the NFL. My first trail race was a 5K – a $4 treasure hunt! – that netted me a 5lb bag of colored animal crackers and 3 weeks of no running thanks to a bum knee caused by somehow stepping wrong in an irrigation hole. My first trail marathon featured me falling off the trail, spooked by a squirrel, and having to yell for a half hour so a passerby could pull me out. And don't even get me started on either Otter Creek or the "Dude There's No Freaking Trail" debacle. So out I went, to try something new. Expecting nothing, hoping not to kill myself.

I am coming off of a major medical thing, so I have to take it easy. But it was overcast, last night's snowfall had melted, and I was feeling good. FINGERS CROSSED and off I go.

Despite my only running since early October consisting purely of races, and mostly marathons to boot, I was still determined to run 10 miles, one for each day I have been an Official Nonsmoker. I figured if my hamstring wouldn't give out as it had at NYCM, I'd be OK. After all, the week after I'd run every step of Richmond in a very fast for me 5:29, and the week after that I ran Philadelphia half drunk from my 20+ minutes of stopping in 3 frat houses, 2 hasher stations, and the bar at the Manayunk Brew Pub in an incredulous 5:54. But this was trail, where I typically run 2 minutes (or more) slower per mile.

But mile 1, flat, came and went in 11:03. As did downhill mile 2. Hmmm … let's make this a tempo run. At the 5 mile mark it was under 55 minutes, but it was mostly downhill with the wind at my back. I'd try to slow it down on the back 5. Especially because it would be 4 miles uphill with only the last flat mile offering reprieve.

I do not like nature, but this very packed, wide slate-covered rail-to-trail was pretty. I found myself thinking how pretty this would be when the leaves were changing. I though about my friend from Seattle who would LOVE this. Then I thought about a recent argument we'd had that was entirely my fault.

download Stomp the Yard dvd Svengali is not the fastest runner, this is true. But I used to be much faster, when I trained properly. My friend who has an even more insane racing schedule than me has been getting faster and faster with each of his marathons, and I realized I'm jealous of that. I'm so happy for him and his success, don't get me wrong, but I am childishly jealous. That made me, in a fit of feeling really sorry for myself last week, inappropriately lash out at him for no good reason. I apologized once my head cleared, and he accepted my apology, but I still feel petty and stupid for that exchange.

<Poof> my head is suddenly back at it. I find myself at the eighth bridge crossing and realize my ten miles is almost up and that I haven't really slowed down despite going uphill into the wind with the rain softly coming down. So <click> I kick it up a bit. Mile 9 is fast, so <click> faster still. The first half of mile 10, ON TRAIL of all places, is 5:19. Damn. So despite my lunch of McDonald's chicken nuggets and chocolate chip cookies* threatening to come up I think "f–k it, let's redline" and sprint the final half mile. In 4 freaking 27. ON TRAIL! WTF???

Total for the ten was 1:53 and change. Ridiculously fast for me, even for running on the road these days. Gave me a brief return to the faster runner I've been in the past, particularly welcome as every run from now until IMAZ in April must be Zn1. I coughed my brains out (stupid EIA!) and would have given my right nut for some Albuterol, but otherwise I felt great. Strong. Powerful. Sexy. 3 things I haven't felt together in a long, long time.

Most importantly, it gave me a return to me. IM training? BRING IT.

* Jim: in anticipation of our weight loss battle antics, I too have been trying to "bulk up" this week. Not just because my nutritionist will have a cow if she learns how much weight I lost last week thanks to food poisoning, but because with her help I hope to lose 20% of my body weight by IMAZ. So Svengali's taking you down, brother. Flabalanche be damned.

Rock on, fellow Rock Stars.

Fingers crossed.

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