Appreciate the Danger...

Ahh where to begin so much has happened..life has spun its eery web around me and my running game. Things are on the up and up...I am about a stiff month out from my ultra! Gah can you believe that? 40 miles straight, that's insane. Today will be the look back, "the recap", you would say of where I have been and where I am going.

This is my 10th month into running and I have had one heck of a journey. Gripped with fatal, tumultuous lows, and tremendous and exciting highs. I have come through some very serious breakthroughs mentally and physically and I cannot imagine life with out these small breakthroughs.

Lessons learned > Life is truly a gift and it is what ever you make of it. I praise God every time I have the energy to make my silly little legs move, let alone run. I have been injured twice, both needing Physical therapy, but weren't a result of running. They set me back, but I pushed harder. I have been depressed, I have been Happy, I have been content.

Now I run for the thrill, the crisp air rushing through my lungs ever so blissfully. Feeling exhausted as my calves and hips bellow out symphonies of pain and discord. Moving through treacherous terrain only to grab each and every web spun by Charlotte and her pals, almost waiting for my above average stature to rip it apart.

I run for the journey. For life is just a smidgen more meaningful when you win while others stay stagnant. When you don't focus on finishing first, you focus on bringing someone to the finish line with you. That JOURNEY. That place of comfort. Is what makes my heart beat every morning I rise and wipe the sand out of my eyes and pound/the pavement or trails.

I owe a gigantic thank you to every single person who has entered into my life and pursued the journey with me. You have no idea how you impacted me!

Story time......
Finally after all the mushy dialog and appreciation. I did get up over the weekend at 5am and enter the forest for a run. This by far was the most scary/terrifying thing I have ever done in my life. SO here is the picture I am going to paint in your mind. It's pitch black outside, its 2x pitch-black inside the forest. You have got a headlamp on providing just enough light to see your immediate peripheral vision and a small LED beam directly in front of you. You have UTTER darkness everywhere else around you. All you know at this point is a rough outline of where you are going, and a few wooden posts stating "trail _____ this way". Now you buck up, outside all your initial fears, and begin the run. What feels like .5mi go by and your like ok not that bad, it will be light soon, I can do this. HA! You hear sounds, large sounds, also voices. Immediately thoughts creep into your head so fluidly you cannot stop them. Your heart races like a thoroughbred horse that is untamed. Blood and Adrenaline surging through your veins. So I ran faster and faster. I was petrified. Long story short, I survived and I jumped out of the forrest at 2.5miles and finished my 7mi total on the road. Lesson learned, Journey logged. :)

Ryan