Focus and Clarity

This week has been a solid week worth of running. There has been a lot clarity and focus which I am sure has helped my running. It seems my motivation and drive has been sparked and I am focused on my training. So far this week I have logged 53 miles with one day off. The miles weren't just junk miles I had a few days worth of quality, hilly Tuesday, a tempo Thursday with 14 miles at a nice clip and I only hope that my focus and clarity stay.

Today's run was full of clarity and focus. I was in my own world smiling at the greenery, listening to the small water falls throughout and just enjoying my time I was able to spend on the trail. It didn't feel like work, running isn't suppose to. For me it is a time to enjoy being a part of nature and running within myself.

I started at the Overlook and made my way to Cool. Everything was feeling good and the miles were ticking by. I was a bit surprised because of some of the quality I had put in my runs this week, but I knew I wanted to push myself and see what the legs could do. The legs were good, I was cruising on the descents and I was pushing it on the ascents.

When I reached Cool, I added on a few more miles. I wanted to see how my legs would respond when I transitioned to different terrain. My legs transitioned nicely, I was holding 9:00 min miles. After adding on some miles I filled my hand held and made my way back to No Hands Bridge. On the long descent I did something really stupid. I was being careful running down a very rock section and with my carefulness I rolled my ankle. I kept moving but I let out a F bomb on that. It didn't really bother me to much on the remainder of the run, but I did notice it while driving home and having to use it to push the accelerator.

At No Hands I had only 4 miles to go. I ran the fire road and part of the ascents before transitioning into a power hike. I also ran into Monica and Trish who were out for a run. They told me there were a ton horses making their way down from the Overlook. I knew that I pretty much had single track left with a small section of fire road. I decided that once I hit Robbie I would continue on the pavement to the high school and find my way back to the Overlook.

I think I ended up adding on 1.5 miles or so with my detour through Auburn. It was a good 19 mile run with some climbing and descents that I wanted to challenge myself with today. As of right now my legs are a bit achy and stiff, but that is to be expected. Looking forward to tomorrows recovery run and seeing what next week will have in store for me.

Focus and clarity, something I have been missing. The focus and clarity are helping me motivate myself and I am seeing a change in my every day attitude, I am happy! Now to hold on to that happiness.