Trying to find the path...

2019 continues to be a rough year on the running front, overall. I did manage to have some recent enjoyment with a few smaller 5Ks since my last entry and a fun 60 minute trail race. Those were experiences that felt filling. Not a ton of time on the day. Few logistics to worry about. Plus, day of sign up. That sort of segways into the following post I made on my personal FB page:

"So what I really didn't mention about Scotland was I got and still have a cough along with torquing my ankle a second time last Saturday. That cough really is the stickler because I hack some while running. (Also evident riding the bike.) Point being...No Batona today. Fine but not fine with it. However, it got me thinking walking Falcon this morning, I likely will only do one race a year that I have to register far in advance. I have never been much of a fan of registering for races in advance because other things may come along. In thinking, that flexibility made running mine. Want to get back to that."

Over the past years, as the sport of ultrarunning has really boomed, it seems just about every race under the sun you have to register months in advance. Now, I am fine with the occasional need to do this but life does not necessarily lead itself to doing this for the number of races I tend to want to run. Being locked in when work gets crazy is not conductive to positive experiences. I say that because running almost becomes like a burden. For many years, when I ran predominately road races, I would show up and sign up day of. Sure it cost a few more bucks but I found I was not as wound up about a whole bunch of things. Embracing a sort of FOMO, increasingly has set me up for 'failure'. Each time I do that and something comes along where I cannot do something (be it sickness, injury, or just stress) it erodes me just a little bit.

I just need to go out and run....what I have been doing feels forces and as a byproduct not fun. Ultimately, when I look at the results from the past two years, I think it shows.

We'll see if I can get back there but it requires a bit of going back in time....