Mid-week last week, I learned about a new trail marathon
being run for the first time just north of Greensboro, NC. Feeling the need for
a little change of scenery and a kick-in-the-butt to get in a good long run, I
registered for the Northern Trails Marathon.
I thought I’d take advantage of being off the mountain and
see a movie, do some shopping at Trader Joes and find a cheap motel and spend
the night. As it turns out, because of March Madness Basketball going on in
Greensboro, there is was no such thing as a cheap room to be found. I did
,however, get a good State Employee’s Rate at Wingate by Wyndamn in High Point.
My favorite thing about this place is it is about ¼ mile away from the
Bicentennial Greenway, and a perfect place to slide in an hour long easy run on
a warm, rainy, Saturday afternoon. They even have a fireplace!
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| Gas fireplace was so nice after a rainy run:) |
Disney’s newest film, Cinderella opened last week and I went
to see a late matinee after my run.
I had a good time laughing and crying my
way through it. I really enjoyed the film and anticipated the theatre being
filled with just little girls, yet I was wrong. Men, women, girls and boys of
all ages filled the seats. Makes
me want to revisit Joseph Campbell’s writings, specifically, The Power of Myth.
It’s been too many years since I’ve pondered mythology and Carl Jung….
Back at the motel, I ate leftover kale salad and mac and
cheese from last night’s dinner. Gotta truly love microwavesJ
Since the run didn’t start until 9am, it was spectacular to
sleep in until almost 7am on Sunday morning. A real treat for race day.
The marathon had a sister race, a 10-mile that would start
right after us. All-in-all there looked to be around 150 runners. This was a
lollipop course: out for 5 miles-a 16ish mile loop and then back over the same
first 5 miles. We ran in mud and over top of wet bridges. It was all urban
single track and quite pretty from what I could tell. Because I am out of
practice with slick trail running, I needed to keep pretty focused on footing
the whole time. I am glad I was in the out for a run, rather than racing mindset.
The course was extremely well-marked and had 5 aid stations
offering just what would be needed to make it through. I have been a lazy runner
lately and have not been running with a pack or water bottles, so I was glad
that when I set out with nothing but a pack of ClifShot Blocks in my pocket,
that all was well.
For the first 10-12ish miles, I would say I was in quite a
funk. I wasn’t enjoying the footing or the many “whoop-de-dooos” and tight turns that are usually more
indicative to mountain biking then trail running. I prefer more elevation gain/loss and less choppy trails,
yet this was urban trail running, so what’s up with the poor attitude? My brain
kept trying to find excuses to cut things short and leave. Nothing was wrong,
yet I was just unsettled, and out of practice.
I am not sure when or why things got better? I remember when
seeing the 15 miles sign that I was feeling strong and happy to be there. Soon after the course also went through
a big patch of bamboo that had a huge tree with vines hanging from it. I
thought I should be seeing Yoda sitting in it…
Though I was wearing both a Fitbit and a Soleus GPS, I never
looked at either while on the course. I saw only four runners the whole day and
by the time I got very close to the finish line, I had no idea how long I’d
been out there-I figured it must be almost 5 hours. That is why I was so very
confused to see 4:05:?? on the clock. It took one of the race directors
congratulating me on being 3rd and saying I ran well in just over 4
hours. It’s amazing how your perception can create invalid outcomes…
I was very surprised; I guess my head really created a new
reality yesterday morning. I also spent a good part of the last 9 miles trying
to remember the name of Yoda’s planet. I finally had to look it up last night:
Dagobah.
While driving down the mountain Saturday afternoon, I
listened to some Ted Talks on NPR. One talk was on non-verbal communication and
how Power Posing can affect your attitude and raise confidence and courage.
Studies have shown an elevation of testosterone and lessening of cortisol after
standing in a Power Pose for 2 minutes. While running I thought about what I’d
heard and look forward to learning more about this topic. In the meantime, I
power posed in front of the finish line for just a couple seconds after
changing out of my running clothes.
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| Wonder Woman/ Superman Pose |
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| Other pose...I don't remember name? |
All-in-all, a great spring morning, I even saw a butterfly
(or a very pretty moth). The trees have the first buds of spring and frogs
chirped for miles along the boggy lake shores. I saw deer tracks, a big pile of
bright iridescent feathers,
possibly coming from some sort of duck?
When I pulled in the driveway yesterday, I immediately did a
tour of the yard to see what flower creatures had emerged since yesterday? Awesomeness. I am so very psyched that
spring is starting. I know we’ll have wintery days and spring days on and off
for the next month, yet this pretty weather just makes everything better.
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| Happiness |
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| More happiness! |
I must admit, I was super tired coming home, yet not too tired to finish up grocery shopping and visiting the quality floral section of our local Ingles. They have 30 stems of daffodils for 5.00. What a happy purchase!
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| Happiness from the grocery store...in 2 more weeks, from our yard. Yay! |
Next up? For sure the Blue Ridge Marathon on 4/18/2015…There may be some practice events before? .....and I
think some further study about power posing, non-verbal communication and the
like. As an undergraduate student at SUNY Fredonia, I was a Human Communications
major and a minor in Musical Theatre. I loved my classes in Non-Verbal
Communication, Public Speaking and Intercultural Communications, etc. That Ted
talk triggered some forgotten intrigue. Time for another exploring adventure of
the spirit!
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| An almost-spring sunset looking off our deck around 7:40 this evening.... |
