Monday, May 08, 2006

The Guads

I went out to the guadalupe mountains this weekend... It was a good series of runs. It reminded me how much I was capable of if I would just quit whining and start running through some pain. About 25 miles into a hardcore mountain run I passed a turn and turned my ankle once again. Instead of limping home like usual I turned around and ran a mile backwards to get to the extra loop I intended to run (Bush Mountain). I stumbled through it at about 2 miles an hour average, but I made it!

By the end it reminded me that we are capable of amazing things if we just suck it up and keep going. The injury didn't slow me down much, and I had a great weekend at the guads. Check out the pictures here.

8 comments:

brownie said...

Wow, that must have been a great trip! Thought of yunz guys on Sat, knowing at points that I was lower than the Rogues.

You coming up for the Barr Race/Hell Week?

tripped over a rock said...

Hey TJ! Glad to hear you were able to skip town to the Guadalupes, sorry about the ankle. Linked to you from my site, hope you don't mind! See you in the greenbelt soon.

TJ said...

Melissa,
Welcome to the blog world. And congrats on your ZG accomplishment, you flew out there.

Anonymous said...

i like reading about how you toughed it out there and got in your run...thanks for the inspiration for my next long one.

TJ said...

Thanks Matt. I once asked a friend of mine how he avoided getting hurt and he told me that he doesn't, he just ignores the pain. Sometimes ignorance is the best medicine. Obviously this isn't sound advice if you are really injured, but it does work on those dull chronic pains pretty well.

Anonymous said...

i haven't had to deal with any real injuries so far in my ultra training, but i am sure i will face it sooner or later. i guess only experience can help you distinguish between the nagging discomfort and something serious...trial and error, right?

by the way, what kind of engineering do you do? i am a geotechnical engineer. i am always curious to find out how other engineers approach and break down their running...being that we are so analytical at work. do you take off the engineer hat and just try to approach it more organically? or, does your training creep into your hobby?

TJ said...

Matt, I'm an electrical engineer. I can safely say that I leave it all behind me, though, when I go for a trail run. When I started running on the roads I used to time my runs and even wore a heart rate monitor for tracking. But ever since I got into trails, I've turned it all off.

Every run for me is enjoyable, I don't consider any of it training. Some people go by time or distance, but I mostly just go out there for as long as I feel like it. Lately I haven't even worn a watch when I'm out there. Trail shoes and a hand held water bottle is about the only things I take anymore.

Anonymous said...

thanks for sharing that, tj. i really enjoy reading about how others train. it fascinates me and i feel we can all learn from each other out there.

i started out with a fair amount of gear and have been slowly stripping down to just a few things like the right shoes and water bottle...i am on a steep portion of the learning curve as far as trail/ultra running goes. i tend to overthink it and then laugh about it later.

the trails do relax me...i will rarely go back to the roads now.

i was wondering if you would be interested in taking my ultra running questionnaire. you can find it on my sight or i can send you one in email. i like your take on things out there.