testing the waters.

so I needed to make up my mind about swampstomper. I have been decidedly lazy as of late, and have been running infrequently, at best. eating crappy food, drinking a lot, hanging out in smoky bars... not a recipe for 50k success. so last weekend, I did a trail run. I was gonna go try to do a "longer" run on some trails. hard ones. I realized as soon as I arrived that I had forgotten my inhaler. sweet. two miles in, I was already winded and I knew that the 11 mile loop would NOT be a good idea, especially considering it was going to get dark soon, and I didn't want to be out on fairly unfamiliar trails in the darkness. so I opted to take as many of the shorter trails that I could until I felt like it was time to stop. I knew I could squeeze 8-9 out of them if I needed to, but I could also stop at 5 if my asthma got bad or if I just wasn't feeling it.

my fitness level has decreased, I can definitely tell that. but something happened about 3 miles in. I was still thinking, "good god this is hard" on parts of the trail, and i'd opt to just take my time and take it slowly. the Poto is a really hard trail as it is, so just even being out running on this thing was somewhat of an accomplishment for me when i'm on vacation (read: lazier than normal). so i'm meandering along, vowing to take my time on the trail, when all of a sudden I realize what's happening. my mind had zoned out and my body had totally taken over. I realized half way up a steep incline what was happening. my arms were pumping hard, my back was angled forward but not hunched, my knees were lifting higher, my feet were lightly maneuvering to find landing spots between rocks, I could feel my hip muscles protesting from the lateral movement to get around tree branches and roots. this is why I love trail running. my body just takes over. the mental challenge shifts from keeping the mind numbing boredom away to making sure you don't end up flat on your face with every step you take. sure, I wasn't going fast. but my entire body was working to get me up that hill. and I didn't even realize how hard I had been working until I crested the sucker and was out of breath. but that's what the downhill is for. :)

so needless to say, i'm back. 8.5 miles or so on rocky, rooty trail. and as much as it hurt, it also felt awesome. give me 31 miles of memphis's best trails and a few awesome companions to cover it with, and I think i'll be about as happy as I can be come january.