Racing after the fact

Holy crap I have fallen out of the blogging mode lately. Actually, I haven't had time or energy, so I'm putting off what I *should* be doing in order to get a post written. I don't even feel like a writer lately. I don't feel like a runner either, but I'll get into that later. This is a time where there are too many things not going right, but nothing is tragically wrong. I *should* be happy, but I'm not really getting the urge to smile much these days. My foot is better but not at all 100 percent, and my pelvis is a tad off as a result. I'm doing hard workouts faster, but it's not even close to where I'd like to be. Too many things in my life are in limbo, and it took me days to make edits and rewrite 2 chapters. At this rate, I might be done next year. I really need to pick up the ball, get on top of things and discontinue the slack here.

This is off the topic, but I will get back on track in addition to achieving all those other things about doing better that I mentioned. ...  Sometimes I read people's blogs or hear runners talk about the causes of their injuries, and can't help but think that there is so much denial floating around. I'm sure I do it too. In fact, I know I do. However, there are people who are clearly and obviously out of balance in their lives who will go into great rationalizations about what specific mineral or vitamin they are lacking or getting too much of rather than admit they are doing something else that is the real culprit. For example, there's this anorexic chick who keeps insisting that her injuries are due to not enough potassium in her diet, as if eating a banana will stop the stress fractures. Actually, if she would eat a fucking banana, I think everyone would feel better. My point is that I doubt that the injuries she gets (and she gets quite a lot) are from a lack of potassium. This girl is visibly underweight and trains like someone aiming to run the HardRock 100. And if anyone says anything, she will become completely defensive and start rationalizing about how it's not a lack of calories. Yes, we know, it's all about the potassium. Uh huh. Do people like this really think they are fooling anyone? I have to wonder.

Most people around her have given up hope that she will do things differently. They assume she will continue to go down the same path expecting different outcomes. It's true that she will likely continue to over-train and under-eat and blame the potassium for her injuries. I know how it is. I used to do something similar, only I never blamed a mineral for what I was doing to myself. Still, I get it. It's odd that I tend to have more hope when it comes to others, but what if someone else is going down the same road, and suddenly they DO veer left and surprise the heck out of everyone? It's always possible. One can always hope, even if it seems impossible.

Very quickly, I was going to run the Rocky Mountain Shootout, but I got too much in my head. I did a hard workout with hill repeats on Tuesday, and started to feel a bit sore and off the day before the race. Actually, everything felt wrong, and I kept thinking that I would make an ass of myself running with those ladies. I mean, these are collegiate runners in their prime doing fast workouts, and some are Olympic caliber. So I slept in and ran the course after the fact. It was hot, and I felt like I kind of slacked in parts (another slacking issue, yes). However, the effort, especially considering that it wasn't a race, wasn't too terrible. I ran 27:42, and that included a few seconds where I had to stop and tie my shoe when it came undone. I guess if I hadn't stopped, I might have run at least 5 seconds faster or so. The time with the shoe tying fiasco would have put me in about 131st place or so, which sounds horrible but at least isn't LAST place! Here are the results of the real race. it's one of those things though where I *should* be happy with how things are coming along, all things considered, but I'm feeling limited and frustrated still. And now today all I want to do is crawl back into bed. I know if I get moving I'll probably feel better, but my head is being a Debbie Downer lately. Uggh.

I'm day 4 into the no chocolate thing. It's amazing how a little piece of chocolate can make things better. What's the saying? Dip it in chocolate and it will be fine? Something like that. That yogurt shit and carob are alright, but nothing compares to chocolate, nothing!

OK sorry but this just screams this video:

Sob. Chocolate...Oh how I miss you.

Well, I have more to say, but it's already almost 10AM, and I have too much to do again on my day off. I'm hoping to do a race or two in the next month or so. I'll hopefully get back into blogging more regularly too. I did create a blog for SmithKlein Gallery. It's just a fun little thing, but I hope people enjoy reading it.