Well, believe it or not a couple of people have asked for updates from me so I guess one or two of you still read this blog! So I will provide an update for those curious readers.
I'm doing well, but it's been a tough first quarter. I've only done one race all year, and it was a 5k! But I'll get to that in a minute.
In January I missed my first race because I had the flu. I missed my next race because of a death in my wife's family, then I missed my third race because of a death in my family.
In addition to this, my company won a large contract with a large company to provide services in North and South America. Since the account is in my region, I've been traveling to Austin, Texas almost every week since the beginning of March. So my training has been a challenge, and family time has been a problem!
As a result of all of this, I'm taking some time off from ultras. I'm having trouble balancing the work-family-training activity, and it is getting harder and harder (both physically and personally) to spend 8+ hours on the trails every weekend. A couple of weekends ago I got up at 3:00 am on Sunday (as I usually do), got dressed, ate breakfast, loaded my gear in the car, drove 40 minutes to Lake Grapevine, strapped on my pack, turned on my headlamp and flashlight, walked up to the trailhead, and suddenly realized I didn't want to be there. I got back in the car, went and got a cup of coffee and headed home.
Since then I've been doing some road walking at shorter distances. Last weekend I did my first 5k in about two years and I PR'd by 24 seconds (31:06, which surprised the heck out of me). I've also been cycling quite a bit when I can.
So my plan is to train up and rebuild my base for some fall marathons, focusing on speed. I'll return to the ultras someday but right now I need a break. I want to feel like a 15-20 mile walk on the weekend is an accomplishment, not a "light training weekend"! ;)
On the work front, yesterday I hired the Program Manager who will be the onsite manager of our services and employees, so now I can manage the account from Dallas with fewer and shorter trips to Austin. I'll still be traveling for a few more weeks and then things should settle down.
So I'll try to update the blog periodically. Thanks to everyone who visits and comments. I've been following a lot of other blogs when I can and enjoying reading about your accomplishments. Good luck training and racing!
