Really Good at Stupid

 

Keep Moving, let's not get Stuck on Stupid cause that's CRAPPY!

I texted a friend of mine last week, "We do stupid well." 

It's the truth. If you followed in my footsteps, GOOD CHANCE you would want your money back. Sometimes my program works, and sometimes it doesn't and MOST of the time it doesn't make sense no matter which way you cut it. 

I find myself humbled, icing my shin and thanking God that He carried me through a peak week of training. 

EVERY RUN is a gift at this point. Finding the balance of stupidity and foolishness is a bit confusing.

 Clinging to "good training" has many different perspectives and opinions. 

As a woman of faith, an athlete for Christ my perimeters will never make sense to most. 

Saturday night The National Anthem played as I got ready to race a 25K in Midland after running 20 miles of hills that morning. 

I closed my eyes and prayed. The song faded away to just the silent whispers to the Lord. 

I prayed for protection as I navigated in the dark, to stay upright and steady. 

I prayed for perseverance after running 20 miles and that the Lord would protect me from injury and from myself. 

I DIDN'T pray for speed, or to place or to have a killer race in the eyes of others. 

The whole thing was STUPID!

But I knew I had to see what I could do with Treasure Coast Marathon THIS Sunday. 

My shins have been getting better, however, I am NOT running pavement or doing speedwork. 

20 miles Saturday morning. Let's not get "Stumped" on stupidity!

 
(Hills are speedwork in disguise.)

Backroads, trails and hills are all I can do. 

The Goal, to qualify for NYC. which in turn would have me also qualify for Boston. 

SNOWMOON 25K: 

I planned to run a 9:30min/mi. 

And I claimed that to many...and I truly believed my own words. 

It didn't feel STUPID when I crossed the starting mat and found myself a few yards behind Andy. 

I heard my watch beep...I cautiously looked...8:34min/mi. 

I stayed hidden in his shadows. 

Andy was running with 4 of our friends so when one of them noticed me, the cat was out of the bag. 

I told him I would try to stay with them as long as I could. 

I didn't have the energy to chat, I was trying really hard to feel if I was crossing over into a different degree of STUPIDITY....EGO and PRIDE. 

STUPIDITY is often perspective, but EGO and PRIDE is the hidden ugly that is battled in your own darkness. 

I made a vow to myself "stay behind" to keep the EGO man down. 

By the GRACE of God, I was able to stay with Andy. We finished together. The finish line wasn't what I was dreaming. It came with a nasty fall from Andy that left his body looking like a 6ft pretzel. I had romantic thoughts of glorious smiles and hand holding maybe even a cute little kiss at the end.  

Not even close. 

Our friends, Amanda and Shane were so sweet waiting for us with big smiles and holding out vacant high fives. It was a finish of suffering and STUPIDITY. 

My heartrate for the race. I was very pleased. 

ANDY actually KILLED it! We both PR-ed  Snowmoon, with the best conditions I ever remember. 

It would cap off my day of 35 miles, with me hitting the 25K at the pace I would need to maintain at Treasure Coast Sunday. 

TRAINING & STUPID

"Stupidity is a gift from God but one must not misuse it." Pope John Paul II

I have made so many stupid decisions in my running career that if it was a course I would get a A+! But the truth is I have learned a lot from them, often because the lesson was so painful. Sometimes it doesn't APPEAR stupid but when once the fog lifts your knee deep in stupidity. 

"Stupidity is a talent for misconception." Edgar Allen Poe 

It seemed like a brilliant idea until it wasn't.  I am usually chewing on this in the middle of an ultra. When my suffering is screaming at me, and I am rethinking my choices. A talent for sure when I find myself back in the saddle again!

"Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity." 

EGO and PRIDE. These two are best friends that like to beat down humility. Ego will find a back door for anything stupid and make it shine. 

You become your own god. Unteachable and unreachable. You do things because you CAN not because it's actually beneficial. 

Last weekend, I planned on running a marathon to a 50K in the morning THEN the 25K that evening. But the more I thought about it the more I realized "WHY". Just because I COULD didn't mean I SHOULD. More is not always better regardless of what the commercial says. 

"It is a wise man who know where courage ends, and stupidity begins." 

AHH. This one is brilliant. Not much can be done under the spirit of fear, courage though can take you to places you can soar and places you can sink. 

Such a fine line. A line I am still learning. We all have a different breaking point, a different point of reference, a different point of pain and different tools to navigate through it all. 

And different isn't always wrong because it looks wrong to us. Courage is the same. It takes me more courage to line up to a 5K and race it then a 50K! 

RUNDOWN: 

"Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge but he who hates reproof is stupid." 

Proverbs 12:1

AM I teachable? I would like to think so. 

Feb 12-Feb 18= 

STEPDOWN week. SHINS

Miles: 44miles

Elevation: 2,166

The step down proved itself. I iced every day, some days 3 times, KT tape, Compression socks and prayer. 

Feb19-25

Don't get Stuck on Stupid

Miles: 74miles

Elevation: 4000ft. 

I stayed off pavement. trails and backroads. 

Saturday was a BIG run day. I went for a walk today, but very little running this week.  

SUNDAY is Treasure Coast Marathon. It is on pavement. I could really use some prayers! 

In Peace, Not Pieces,

Anita