12 miles in, a storm began creeping overhead as flashes of lightning lit the sky and the thunder warned me of its closeness. My pace was okay but begin slowing as the clock ticked. This run reminded me of why I love trail running. I came across 5 alligators, two racoons, a snake, and many birds. On the road you miss these things. The more ground you cover the likelihood of an encounter with with the strange or the new becomes more of a reality. These encounters also minimize the negitive thoughts of the moment. Misjudged your nutrition, add some fatigue and thoughts become roadblocks. But nature tends to heal and push you on.
This wasn't my best run I definitely did myself no favor the last few days. I came into the run caloric deficient and I could feel this on mile 7. I started out at a 9 min mile and leveled out around 11. After 2 miles of loose rocks miss puddles and a blazing sun I could tell the added stress had more to do with my food than the pounding of my feet. It slowed me to about a 12 min mile till I hit the dirt again but the effects of the day prior began to take hold. I refueled and hydrated at 6 but a bit to late to recover back to a 10 min mile immediately. I recovered around 10 miles and picked up the pace again. Then the storm moved in forcing me to turn around at mile 13 to end my run at a bit over 14 miles. I made mistakes by eating to few calories the day prior and a nutrient deficient meal the morning of. You live in learn, but success comes not of what I do today but what I learned and how I change for tomorrow. I fell short of my goal of 20 miles due to the lightening but all in all it was a good run and learned a lesson in my eating.
- Daniel Underbrink