Getting caught up?

Getting caught up is always challenging. Writing in the blog is one of the things I need to catch up on. I think we all have such busy lives, economic strains, relationship pressures, and weather changes to bring us down, but we have exercising, March Madness, great friends (old and new), looking forward to the warmer weather, and seeing things optimistically to lift us up.

The last post expressed excitement about a 20-mile week as an enjoyable week. That was followed by a 21.3-mile week last week and much enjoyment in the runs. This week started great with the weather. I ran 4.1 miles at lunch and walked 2.1 miles after work Monday; yesterday, I rode my bike to and from work, ran 4 miles at lunch, and walked 2 miles after work again. I feel so tired; I struggled to get the 5K out of the way during lunch? Well, we can not always expect great runs… The first mile was filled with "turn around and quit" thoughts, but then I got into a groove and still struggled.

I have had almost a week to mull the movie Beyond the Epic Run through my mind. It was great to see the ultra runners there, and I was glad I went. I will see it again, as it left me with some thoughts that may have been covered in the movie, but I may have missed them. I may purchase the diary as well…

At the movie's end, we were asked to summarize it in three words. That was hard for me as I saw the film as a phenomenal production that took me through as many human emotions as I thought I could experience all in one sitting. I used the words "depressing, humbling, and motivating."…

To me, it was many stories! A strong story of love… The love between Serge and Nicole, the passion for running, the love for a challenge, and the love for general humanity. It was an eye-opener for the variety of world conditions we often only think are made for television promotions for "feed the children". It was a tragic story as at the start I saw two young, vibrant people who looked so old and worn at the end… It was a life experience story where people often support you and then, for some reason, change their minds. It was a story of hope. They were positive no matter what they encountered (at least the movie shows such). So many more stories in this story! The more I think about this remarkable story, the more I think about it, which makes me think about much more than a run.

I got an e-mail that Afton registration is now open. As I have said too many times, Grandma's is the only race I plan to do this year. I have a few weeks of enjoyable running but do not want to enter any races. However, the race fills fast. So, I am going to enter the 50 K and, at this time, consider it a donation to the race. That way, if Grandma's goes well and I am happy running, I will be in the race. But again, I am 95 percent sure I will not be running it… But just in case, I will save my spot!

Looking forward to volunteering at Chippewa this year. I just received some information about my assignment. Looks like fun.

I only have an occasional tennis match to officiate for the next three weeks. Less than 4-5 hours a day max for this weekend and only one assignment the next two after that! Looking forward to getting some weekend workouts in for a change.

Maybe I'll see some of you out there… if you run slow enough for me to keep up?

Carry on!