"Run It Silent, Run It Deep"

Thursday I decided to get tired and go long. A big part of training for 100 miles, from what I gather, is getting used to circumstances less than favorable (to put it lightly). I put together a run at Percy Warner that would include both trails and road. 

The words quoted in Karnazes new book Run have become important to me, "Run it silent, run it deep." It is the blackness in the eye of the owl. It is the wind rushing up the ridge. It is a warm humid night full of the fragrance of the forest.

I kicked off at 3pm and ran the yellow-white-red-blue-cross country x2- finish red plus some back and forth to the Jeep to refuel for 23m. I then changed shoes and socks- in a fresh pair of swiftwick Aspire 2s, I was glad to get out of the muck on the trails. 

changing for the road

I ate dinner on the run, peanut butter between 2 waffle Stingers and rolled on to the 11.2. The entire day except for the cross country trail was elevation laden. I am starting to enjoy climbing, this is a good sign.

Night fell and the noises of the forest changed, I clicked on my headlamp. Bats swooped by occasionally, night frogs hummed and chirped and I cut through the last of the light. I found that I was tensing up and speeding up as the light failed. I often run in the dark, but having dark come while running is unfamiliar. I had to settle in for I had a long way to go still.

I finished at 9:30 pm with 34 miles in 6.5 hrs. I felt a sense of oneness with God's creation. Once I got home I laid in bed till 1:30, wide-awake, I suppose I should lay off the caffeine gels during night runs in the future.