A Big Giddy Bag of Playful Nerves

Since my last long training run nine days ago, I’ve really been taking it easy, which has made tapering for the Ice Age Trail 50… well, EASY!

Having made overtraining mistakes in the past that left me feeling as stupid as I was hobbled, I made it a point to stay focused this time.

The most important thing about last week was preventing a nagging/weakened plantaris from getting worse by… just chilling out.  As hard as it was on my psyche, I only ran three times last week: 10 miles on Wednesday, 12 on Saturday and 4 on Sunday.

And today, as I try to juggle the constant, vivid daydreams about Saturday’s upcoming 50 mile adventure with the actual preparation (gear, nutrition, instructions for crew), my body is thanking me for all the rest.  For the first time since Earth Day, my right leg feels pretty strong.  The plantaris strain has healed enough so that it isn’t painful.  There are still some occasional signs that it is weaker than my right, but such orthopedic mysteries seem to always pop up for me during race week.

What matters the most is I’m gonna be good to run on Saturday.

For a long ass time too.

Since this will be my first dance with the 50 mile distance, I’m going to be conservative.  I don’t want to screw anything up.  My goal is to finish.  That’s it.  I won’t be racing or killing myself to stay with the lead pack.  Having never run more than 32 miles at one time, I will be entering the unknown for at least 2-3 hours at the end of the day, and I can’t tell you how excited I am about that.

Hell, I’m just excited about everything associated with this event!  I’m ecstatic that this is all finally happening!  Finally!  The day I’ve been looking forward to for almost a year now is finally going to be here.  And while the race week nerves try to flip my stomach, an actual flip through my training log reassures me that I already DID all the hard work necessary to finish this thing strong, to accomplish what I set out to do.

And isn’t that what all this crazy running is about?  Isn’t it about accomplishment?  Isn’t it about surprising yourself?  Isn’t it about nature and about community and about love?

Hell yes it is.

I can’t wait to share my experience!