Lesson 1: Respect the run
Ok. Week one is in the books. How many weeks 'til this FKT thing?? No one knows for sure [checks calendar] 20, it's 20 weeks away!
Wow, it’s been an exciting week. Everyone has been so nice and supportive. THANK YOU!! I’m having fun following everyone’s training, including some really big efforts. Shout out to Allison Lerer for snagging the women’s FKT on the Georgia Loop!! Woop!! Amazing job lady! Y’all are keeping me going out there!!
How’s your training going?? Have you completely melted in the heat and humidity yet? Because I for sure have. I mean holy moly... Fall can't come fast enough.
This weekend I went out for a 16 mile easy trail run at the Southside Sports Complex which has some super awesome trails only 10 min from our house in Grant Park. Yes. I said TRAILS… ITP!
But I failed miserably. Probably the first of many on this journey, figure I'll get 'em out of the way before I start my FKT attempt. I was maybe 6 miles in and realized I was woefully unprepared. I was trying out Roctane in my bladder for the first time, and didn’t realize HOW THIRSTY it would make me. I didn’t have any other fluids and didn’t bring any in my car. I was sucking down every ounce trying to make the thirst go away, but I was drinking more Roctane, which was just making me more thirsty. Enter the vicious cycle. I made it 10 miles, and my pack was bone dry. Sidenote, anyone else use Roctane and experience this? What else is out there that is full of calories and electrolytes? Oh, but not Tailwind. Anything, but Tailwind. That's a different story for a different blog post...
Anyways, since I was only 10 min from home, I decided to bag it and go home and just get some plain, delicious, thirst quenching water. It was amazing. And all I wanted in life. A gallon later (no not really), I went back out to finish my miles running around the neighborhood.
A few miles later my knee started hurting. Like, hurting pretty bad. It slowed me way down. All I could think the whole time was what a dummy I am for putting my goals out there and then immediately getting injured. Ugh. I felt like an idiot.
Well..as my coach, Brandon said..I didn’t respect the run. And that’s so true. I super definitely didn’t respect the run. 16 miles, how tough can it be, right? Well, it turns out that when it’s 42,000 degrees and 1400% humidity (a very slight exaggeration), anything is a struggle. So. Respect The Run. Got it. Noted.
Fast forward to today (Monday) and my run felt great. My knee was fine. It’s all gonna be ok. Whew! That was stressful. I know y’all were stressed about it.
One week down, one lesson learned.
This week was also interesting in a less miserable way. I reached out to Caleb (the new Pinhoti FKT record holder), just to let him know I was going to attempt it later this year. He was SO NICE and gracious! And he also had some very interesting info, word on the street is... THERE’S ANOTHER GIRL GOING FOR THE PINHOTI FKT IN THE FALL. Wait. Whaaaatttt?!
This part is actually super exciting to me! What better motivation than some good ol' competition? What if we end up out there at the same time? It would be like an actual race.
Who is this mystery girl? Do you live close? Can we run together? Are you as excited as me? Did you die on Saturday too?
Ok. Time to calm down.
Last, but not least, this week was capped off with a lovely day in the mountains. Tim and I went up to Rabun Gap to help my friend Brooke (wo)man an aid station at the Rabun Half Marathon on Sunday. An actual, in person race. It was quite an adjustment to figure out how to do all the things safely in our current pandemic world, but I think it went super smoothly, and safe. It was so good to see everyone having a great time and just to relax and enjoy a day outside. Thanks Susan for putting the event on and thanks for having us!
After the race, we hiked to some really cool waterfalls and sat in the water with beverages in the warm sunshine. Basically heaven. What a day, and what an amazing end to a pretty stressful work week.
I hope everyone is enjoying the start of their week, and let’s catch up again soon. Don't forget, respect the run!
