Saturday, June 20, 2009

Saturday Afternoon's Random Thoughts...

All the climbing during my runs last week left me pretty tired out most of this week. I kept planning to do long runs up on the ridges each day this week but then I would get out of work and feel tired and end up running something much more mellow. After how much I pushed myself last week this was probably a good thing, but I do feel kind of lame for not getting very far up into the mountains at all this week... Hope to do something about that tomorrow morning.

Western States is coming up one week from today. For the first time since my DNF at Miwok I began to feel pretty bummed this week about not being in Western States. I've been enjoying being back here in Juneau, but I must say I would love to be lining up next week in Squaw Valley. I would not be one of the top few favorites to win but it sure would be exciting to test myself against the field that will be there this year. For now that will have to wait I guess.

At any rate though it feels pretty nice to be getting the drive back to compete in big races. After a DNF in the Ultrasport and the Miwok I needed some time away from too much focus on racing, but slowly over the past several weeks I've started to think more and more about wanting to be out there in the mountains testing myself against the trails and against other runners. I'm not decided for certain yet which ultras I'll be racing the rest of this year, but I do know that I will be showing up as determined as ever to push myself as hard as possible.

One other thing that's been brewing in my mind a lot again this past week has been The Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. The Tour Divide started over a week ago and The Great Divide Race started yesterday. Since dropping out halfway through The Great Divide Race a year ago I've done almost no biking (aside from my 7 mile commute to work each day), but with the nicer weather now I've been riding a bit more and this combined with "following" the riders out on the route has me thinking more seriously about wanting to ride this route again someday. Maybe next year. Maybe a few years down the road. We'll see.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Geoff,

You most certainly would be one of the favorites if you were lining up this Saturday at WS. You're technically still undefeated in 100 mile races. Set the goal of making sure you're on that line next year but just enjoy the process and all that comes between now and then.

CJ