I’ve had a lot on my mind recently. Many of those thoughts
I’ve wanted to pen out and post. Unfortunately, life has been a little crazy
and time to sit down has become less and less abundant. All of my attention has
been poured into the doctorate program and recovering from 12 hour learning
days.
When I originally got into the program, I felt that by not
working and being a full time student that I would be able to maintain my running program and continue to improve. There have been milestones I wanted to reach and goals
that I became engrossed with for a few years now. I was finally hoping that
this year was my year to break into those goals. A string of disappointing
performances (and even a couple unfinished performances) has proven me wrong.
School is tougher than I anticipated. It eats up way more
time than I thought it would and wears me down more than training ever has. And
it certainly is not conducive to reaching the goals I set forth. Don’t get me
wrong, I absolutely appreciate the opportunity to learn and have worked hard to
succeed there. I love learning and the similar feeling that it shares with
training and racing. But I’m realizing my limits.
Recently, I had a run up on the beautiful trails of the Bear
100 course. I was amazed at the beauty of the wilderness around me and a
feeling of excitement for race day built with each mile. Around the Tony Grove
area, I began to notice that the trees and grasses were showing signs of
summers fade. Colors that represent changing of the seasons were starting to
turn like the blooming flowers and shades of spring that I could’ve sworn were
showing just last week.
I noticed a single red leaf among the many shades of green.
He was solid and bold in color, moving forward with the inevitable changing of seasons.
The tree will lose his bud, but only for a season. All things will turn and
eventually this leaf will grow back. Seasons are a wonderful opportunity for
growth and expansion. All things come and go but it’s their fall, winter and
spring preparations that allow for a strong summer growth.
 |
| Seasons are changing |
This leaf inspired me to go forth in my season. Now is not
the time to focus on running. Rather, it’s a time to focus on the future. Much
like a fall and winter harvest, it’s my time to prepare for the next season of
growth and exuberance. Competitively racing cannot be my focus. But as I focus
on school, I can balance creating a stronger base with added strength training
and shorter distance speed to work into my endurance when the time is
appropriate. Setting up the opportunity for the best success in the next
“season” of my ultra running career.
That’s not to say that I won’t be racing and training for
the next two and half years, but it will be with a different reason and focus
and definitely less frequently. School is the priority and setting up my future
will be the focus.
Inspired by the many bold trees that didn’t hesitate to move
forward with the seasons on my last run, I too must move forward to prepare for
the changes that are taking place in life. It’s not easy and almost seems like
I’m stepping backwards, but I boldly face the newest season knowing that my
summer will come around again and I’ll be stronger and better for having
properly prepared myself and utilized the purpose of each changing season in my
life.
