Less Is More

And I thought, "...the less I listen, the more I hear...the less I look at, the more I see...the less I feel, the more I am aware."  It all sounds counter-intuitive except when it is put into context.  I ran at Umstead State Park yesterday.  Umstead is a true test of fitness due to the seriously steep, long hills.  It's not for the faint of heart.  I attempted the Umstead 100 miler years ago only getting through 50 miles in just over 12 hours.  This coming Saturday, a day after my 54th birthday, I will run the Umstead Marathon, my 75th marathon.  It might just be the most difficult marathon of the 75 I have run - well until Bataan.  And that's the point.  Run something hard before you have to run something harder.  Umstead, no question, will be a challenge.  I wanted to run yesterday's 10 mile loop the best I could, both the climbs and the descents, but especially the long slow climbs.  The Umstead Marathon also includes 5 miles of single track technical trails so those will be their own challenge.  The rest of the marathon is run on bridle trails which is where I concentrated yesterday.  I decided to run my normal loop in the opposite direction.  Trails look very different when running them in the reverse direction.  I didn't take music with me because I love the quiet of the trails.  Also, Umstead will disqualify you if you are caught running with earphones, which is very common in ultras and trail races.  The Umstead Marathon is more of an ultra with the marathon distance.  While I was meandering my way through the forest, I thought about all that I could hear.  I wasn't listening for anything in particular and I didn't have any musical noise pollution.  I do listen to music on many of my runs but never on trails.  I could hear the crunch of my Montrail trail shoes on the gravel; the increased breathing powering me up the hills; birds singing in the trees; other runners chatting; no sounds at all.  I could see the bigger forest, blue sky through the leafless branches, sun shining creating warmth, the undulations of the trail off in the distance.  I was aware of my entire body, my breathing, the tiredness in my legs, the recovery during the downhills.  I didn't focus on any particular pain, just that my entire body and mind is in this together.  Help each other.  Bring it all together.  I ended up running one of the best 10 mile loops at Umstead ever.  Now I need to put it all together again and add 16 miles.

Today I ran the American Tobacco Trail, stark contrast to the hills of Umstead.  It's a Rails-to-Trails course and great for tempo runs.  I did 6 miles of tempo work.  My legs felt fresh from the Umstead run.  Now it is time to back off a bit to recover before the true test of Umstead.

One of the last songs I heard on Friday was Eric Clapton's Running on Faith.  Although the song has nothing to do with running, it was the way it started that captured my attention.  There is no other way to run, faith in God, faith in yourself, faith in others.
Lately I've been running on faith, What else can a poor boy do?
Yesterday and Today, Days 52 and 53: 10 and 6 miles; 2014: 296 miles