December 9 (52 miles/week)

DNR

I actually went out the door from our hotel in Lexington to run this morning in a cold, miserable rain on the shoulder of a highway, but I couldn't even make it my planned 30 minutes because my right calf was locked up. I couldn't run without limping, which gave me a 10-minute walk home in the downpour. Like yesterday during the race, I had a few bleak moments where I was feeling sorry for myself, and that needs to stop.

All in all, while it was great to see a lot of friends (the part of the trip going in that I was honestly most excited about, given the lack of confidence in my fitness), this was a miserable trip beset by a horrible tragedy. Though I didn't know Lauren personally, though I'm still close with a lot of the GRC, her passing put a major black cloud over a weekend that was already pretty awful. It hit a little too close to home for me because my dad passed away in a similar accident, and it occurred on his birthday, no less, right outside of the bar where Valerie, the BCTC, and the GRC guys were enjoying post-race revelry. The whole day left me feeling pretty rattled.

Needless to say, today was more of a day of reflection and reevaluation for me. Running starts in earnest again tomorrow. If I can take away anything from this weekend, it's to stop treading water with my running and tear down some personal barriers in 2013.