Rest, Regroup, Redirect, Share

After a bumpy and stressful first half of 2015, I’ve been enjoying a period of rest through the summer, feeling my energy seep back in a healing way and experiencing a good reset. As with benefiting from a training effect after a hard workout, now that I’m feeling recovered I’m emerging a stronger person. From that place it is possible to see forward with more clarity. I’ve switched up my training to get back to doing a lot more strength work at the gym. Yoga has been great for base strength and injury prevention, but I’ve lost some functional, dynamic strength and it is fun to get back to having a dedicated time and place to re-develop it. 

From a place of starting to get more excited about the direction my training is heading, it follows that lining up some races is next. It has been a quiet year in that regard, and I hope to make up for lost time now that my enthusiasm is back, and just in time for some cooler weather.

Coaching and Workshops

Something I’ve long-known about running is it is sometimes best when shared. I’ve recently formalized what I’ve been doing informally for a few years, and started working as a coach with Spafford Health and Adventure. I have current openings for a couple of athletes if anyone is interested! Full details can be found at HealthandAdventure.com.

Also, later this year and into 2016 Derrick and I will be putting on a series of trail and ultrarunning workshops. This was something we were hoping to have off the ground for earlier this year, but it has taken longer than expected to get them rolling. Stay tuned for more details! With the rapid growth in the sport our goal is to introduce participants to every aspect: tons of practical information, guidance geared to every level, inspiration, and direction. We also want to pass on a sense of the ethos and culture that has historically been aligned with the sport, to help preserve some of the best aspects of trail and ultrarunning as things evolve and grow in exciting new directions.  

I think the sport has taken off because people are looking to it for something authentic and life-affirming. We live in a time where it is overvalued to be perfectly polished. Individuality is stifled in favour of trying to be just like everyone else. It is refreshing to come back from a trail run with dirt-caked legs, oozing scrapes, bug bites, dripping sweat and disheveled hair, raw-yet-empowered from pushing our limits. it brings us in touch with our natural state of being. It's also a visceral reminder to bring to other areas of our lives the courage to make our own decisions, to risk making mistakes rather than always playing it safe. 

Some photo highlights of the Summer

On Whiteface Mountain, New York (photo by Joe Azze, Mountain Peak Fitness)

Ray Zahab of impossible2Possible dazzling us with his keynote for our work conference in June

Playing on the trails at Gould Lake Conservation Area

Frisbee with my mom!