Longer Runs

Since shuttering Mound Street Yoga Center, I've enjoyed stretches of time that I haven't experienced in decades. For example, I now have Saturday mornings wide open in my calendar. While I deeply miss the community that came together most Saturday mornings for Yoga, I am thrilled to have this new-found time in my schedule.

This counter was once clear.

As nature is said to abhor a vacuum, the grad-student life almost inevitably engulfs any unscheduled time. To help prevent calendar-encroaching, I protected my Saturday mornings by plugging in long runs.

At first the long runs were about ten miles in length. Thanks to the aerobic base that I've been building since 2014, these long runs are now more commonly fifteen to twenty miles long. This distance-creep is not accidental - I'm training for my first marathon!

Later this month, I plan to run the Driftless 50 trail marathon. This debut performance will most likely not be the prettiest showing, as this trail marathon (and many others) seems to go up and down almost as much as it stretches 26+ miles to the horizon. Even with my long-haul approach to training, it remains to be seen whether I can actually finish this full trail marathon under its cut-off time.

To increase the odds that I actually finish this marathon in the allotted time, I've been working with a running coach. My training plan includes long miles (building time on feet capacity), along with interval training at lactate threshold. Both pathways pose unique joys and challenges in the realms of body and mind.

I'm not sure why I made the front page of the Wisconsin State Journal.
(9/11/19)

Through running, I've had the chance to directly experience the teachings of my beloved teachers while trotting through the wooded trails of Blue Mound State Park. There have been moments of vividly recognizing mind, periods of boredom, flashes of inspiration and ample opportunity to use body sensations as the object of meditation. Meditation and running have become inseparable.

This next-chapter of body/mind training has been richly nourishing, and I hope that I have the opportunity to enjoy running for many years to come. In the meantime, I'll let you all know how the marathon goes. Two weeks and counting...