First of two...

You can't manufacture inspirado... it arises from a stillness, a quietude... when your heart mingles with your soul and oh man they do the dance... the ancient... (gack) I swallowed a bug. ~ Jack Black (link)

Tuesday: Run - Casa del Critters, 1 hour
Yesterday: Run - Casa del Critters, 1/2 hour
Today: Rest
Tomorrow: Run - Casa del Critters or Twin Lakes, 1/2 hour
Saturday: Run - Leadville100, target: 25 hours

First of a couple of posts as we wind things up. I am not sure what kind of connectivity I will have starting tomorrow morning so today's posts may be it until I get back from the event. Still trying to work out a way my crew can update the blog during the race but the cell coverage out in the boonies is pretty sparse so we'll see.

Tuesday, I swallowed a bug. Never a good time. I tend to have to stand on the side of the trail and dry-heave for a bit. Pretty funny, actually. Reminds me of a run during which I was jamming down the top section of Flagstaff and inhaled what seemed like a small bird. Ew.

Good times, bad times:
This has been one crazy year. Looking back over my log, I have chalked up roughly 433 hours of training for this event. Not to mention the countless hours of planning, recovering, driving, etc. etc. etc.. I have gotten to do things that I would otherwise never have experienced: Stepping up my skiing, running to Nederland and back from my house, running the Front Range Five, just to name a few. This has taken a lot of sacrifice from both myself and my loved ones. In the end, I think it has been worth it. I have grown as a person, experienced hardship and victory and have come to the end of a chapter in my life that I know will lead to bigger and better things.

Tallies: A few stats...
10 pair of shoes
40 pounds lost
1 trip to the doctor
5 chiropractor visits
9 massages
3 PT visits
3 sets of earbuds
1 dead shuffle
50 ski days
433 hours of training

or something like that.

Ok. Back to business. More later.

~stubert.