Deep Thoughts

Here's another article about Ryan Hall's retirement.

He says "“There’s no 10,000-hour rule to mileage. It’s not like, if you do 100 miles a week, you are going to be a great runner. You might be at your all-time worst running 100 miles a week.”

http://www.outsideonline.com/2050226/ryan-hall-doing-too-much-too-soon

Over the past few years, I've philosophized internally (my basic resting state is a swirl of disjointed, sweeping "truths" that I concoct/reinvent continuously) about running and life...and one thing I keep coming back to is a variation of the well-trodden "correlation does not imply causation."

With running, I think it's different but the general underpinnings of the above truth are similar - it'd be more like "Running 100 mile weeks does not make you a great runner...it's spending years patiently getting to the point where you truly CAN run 100 mile weeks comfortably (or somewhat comfortably) that makes you a great runner."

Not quite as pithy...it's a work in progress...

The Running-of-100-Mile-Weeks is just the hood ornament on a very carefully, lovingly maintained car. What sort of a sad-sack just buys the decapitated hood ornament and then hopes to slowly attach the hood it...then a windshield, etc...?

*looks down at closed fist and slowly opens it to reveal sweat-slicked hood ornament that smells like cheese*

I swear to God, I wrote this while taking a shit just now. It lowers my blood pressure and makes my thinking much clearer.

That's it! Have a great Thursday, y'all!

Not to jinx it but...

...I think Rio still may be in the crosshairs this year.

I was in Michigan at the beginning of last month, jogging easily on some old trails I used to run often, and my left knee started to hurt. This is an old injury, one that fucked me in my cherry-red bottom back in 2013. So...being older and wiser now...I continued to run on it everyday for the next two weeks.

To be fair, it only hurt a little and some days not at all, but the end result was the same as in 2013: I couldn't keep running.

But I'm not quite AS stupid these days, so I have done a really good, disciplined job of rehabbing my knee and the results have been positive. I started running easily again last weekend after about 10 days of no-running. During that time, I signed up for a free 2-week trial at the local gym and elliptical'ed like hell, rode a bike a little, and did a bunch of strength work designed to shore up my hips and knees.

I feel pretty good. I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I think I'm in the clear. Gonna continue to run cautiously this week.

My 2016 goals right now are:
1.) the Arizona Trail half-marathon in April. Defending champ.
2.) the McDonald Forest 50K in Oregon in May.
3.) something in June/July, not sure.
4.) Get a lottery draw for the Bridger Ridge Run in Montana for August.
5.) the Mogollon 100 in September.
6.) somehow use my 100-mile fitness to prepare for and WIN the Bisbee 1000 race in October.

Number #6 is the only real question mark here. I am serious though. I want to win that race.

Also, D found a stray chihuahua at her clinic near the MX border. And I guess we're keeping him. He seems to run OK and looks like a mummified cat...so that's cool. His name is Doug.