Sacred Simplicity

Some runs are complicated, full of planning and mental exhaustion that can bring you to your knees before you even lift a foot.  Not MGM.  This run is simplicity at its finest...no fees, no fuss, no worries.  Coach summarizes it up here better than I ever could.  The day started early, at CVS as  always, where I met up with Coach and Mrs. Coach, who I haven't seen in way too long.  We drove in the ever lightening dawn to Clifton, Virginia, where we all cozied up in the lodge while we waited for the 8 am start time.  After a prerequisite group picture, we were off.

This is the back end of BRR, and also includes part of the WHM, so it is a course I know as well as any I have run multiple times.  Blue blazes guided the path until the  Do Loop, but luckily, the kind VHTRC'ers in charge hung ribbons to get runners through that infinite maze.  Last year I was in the loop for a frantic 2 1/2 hours before I bushwacked up a steep hill and knocked on a door for directions to the road.  Good times.  This year, my new found trail confidence (and the several other runners around me) assured that I would have no issues with getting lost.  I even went the right way, which, if you read the report, was not even a requirement.  The leaves were deep, deep, deep.  It was hard to know what was underfoot, but in some ways, I like that better.  Up, down, up, down,  until we emerged, no worse for the wear.

Do Loop Exit Reward

I don't know why, and maybe it is because I am just too exhausted from working so much to care, but I have been zoning out on these runs like never before.   And it is working for me.  I take care of my body by eating and drinking, my mind by watching and listening, and I just keep going.

I soak in being outside, in the cold, in the forest, with the leaves crunching, the trees creaking, and the wind whispering.  I catch up with old friends, meet new friends, and just keep going.  There is no pain, no tiredness, no fear - just the sacredness of the woods and the running.  And I love it.