PR

There's a seven-mile trail run that I do pretty frequently. It's one heck of a thing, tons of hills and more water crossings than I care to count. My kind of thing.

It usually takes me about two hours (on the road I keep about an 8:30 pace for anything over 5 miles)....yeah, that's a huge pace difference.

Today I finished it in an hour and twenty minutes. 7 miles, on a really rugged trail with what some people call "highly technical running"*, and I kept about an 11 minute pace. Hooray for me!

I often think of distance running as an analogy for things in my life....usually childbirth, but lots of other things crop up. Today it was marriage. Hills are rough. Lots of times they change your running technique/stride/breathing. And it's easy to want to quit. But if instead of sitting down and crying (like I wanted to at multiple points today) you keep going, push yourself to overcome the difficult things, you'll end up stronger on the other side. And there's no use ignoring the hill. It isn't going to go away, and if you want to get home, you have to go up it. So face it, beat it into submission, make yourself keep going. It will get better....usually lead to some easy running on a level patch or a breezy downhill.

* My definition of "highly technical running" is looking at a root-strewn, washed out trail as I'm careening down it, trying to do a forward-and-back sweep of it and place my feet as best as possible, letting my speed gather as fast as I dare while avoiding breaking my neck. I don't have much technique other than to try really really hard not to fall down. :-)