"Brawl in Mid-Air" Week Ending 8/2/11

That is such a good damn song.

Really enjoyable week of running.

¡¡¡¡ "La Media Maratón por el Medio Ambiente" POST-RACE REPORT!!!!!

Right after I came across the finish line, I met up with my friend Kake and went to her house to eat, watch TV and then eat again. We shared a one liter bottle of Heineken, which went down pretty well. Nothing crazy, maybe equivalent to one and a half standard 12-oz bottles...so yeah, the afternoon was off to a slow, maybe overly cautious start.

Got home around 10pm and had 6 cans of Paceña in the fridge. The first one disappeared in no time. I briefly considered that the pace might have been a little hot, but I felt pretty relaxed and it was easy to convince myself that I could keep it up. I might have felt a little pressure given the late start and perhaps I was trying to hurry to gain some lost ground. Hit beer #2 in sub-10:00. I wasn't sure where I was at regarding my salt intake, but I didn't want to waste any time making popcorn, so I powered through beer #3 with just a carrot. It was right around this point that I got a little sidetracked responding to emails and watching videos about ancient Egypt. At the start of beer #4, I started feeling a little sluggish. I won't lie, I had a flicker of doubt at this point in the post-race, but I dug deep and reminded myself of my training. "Stick with plan, dude. Have faith." ...which I took to mean that I wanted to listen to "Faith" by George Michael. This definitely revived my spirits and beer #5 was open and ready in no time. Wrapped up an especially witty (no, hilarious!) email to an old friend and was busy reviewing a wikipedia entry on performance-artist Marina Abromovic's "Rhythm 0" piece, when I suddenly realized..."Duder, this has been an awesome day and you are now fully god-damned ready for bed. Go claim your prize."

7th place overall in 1:24:12. Half-marathon PR.

80 miles on the week. Best week of running that I've had in ages.

Whether you're resting, racing, riding or just running around in circles, I hope everyone is out there giving the whole world some hell.

Remember: Nobody, nobody, nobody can pull off the same shit as you and still come out all right.

Saturday=Offurday.

Freedom. No one around today. I went to the mountains yesterday and ran for 4 hours and, boy, do the bottoms of my feet look like the top of an overcooked pizza. Delicious.

So, I opted not to run. No. That isn't wholly true. I opted to do NOTHING. I did exactly zero in terms of anything even remotely productive.

Freedom. I had a dream. That one day. I would rise up and think:

"Why did I rise up? Maybe I should sit back down and eat some pizza."

I'll see you all in hell.

Love,

Pat.

Two times to the Antennae.

Good run today. I ran to the cell towers, then back down, then back up again. It hurt, but more important was the mental unpleasantness (read: pleasantness) of finally getting back to the bottom, out of breath and sore...and then turning around to do it all over again.

10 miles, roundtrip. Half-marathon on Sunday.

"Piedras Locas" - Week Ending 9/25/11

First Chilean summit, "Piedras Blancas" in Vilches. Not very high, but we didn't have a lot of time. I'll be back next weekend as the local half-marathon ends in the town nearby. That should be a really great day: race a half-marathon, straight to 4,000ft vertical of hiking.

Good mileage/hours this week, especially given the no-alcohol policy which left me feeling uninspired and groggy (uh oh!). Don't worry, though. I still drank on Friday and Saturday.

Debating whether to bother continuing the no alcohol thing. I'd rather just try to reduce the volume than eliminate. I mean, I'm a drinker. No two ways about it. For me: I'm either in or out...and right now, I still want in.

63 miles w/ 4.5 hours of hiking on Sunday. No animal products, either. My poop looks awesome. Reading WAY too much about different philosophies/science surrounding diet. Maybe next week I'll try the lean meat/fruits&veggies approach and see how that feels. Or maybe I'll just opt for the increasingly popular Drunk Diet. Only time will tell.

The North Face Ultramaratón de Los Andes is in two weeks. Very excited. It looks like Ian Sharman is thinking about coming down to win it (maybe while wearing a "huaso" costume?).

Absolutely phenomenal weekend of racing. I almost felt like a sports fan, what with all the reading and watching of the running and whatnot and the so-forth.

Give'em hell,

-Pat.