No Need to Conquer

I'm going to ask Kara and the kids to run the Pumpkin Pie 5k together as a family in November.

It will be some awesome family time.

And I hear theres PUMPKIN PIE at the finish line.

It's going will feel good to race a shorter distance than usual.

Because last weekend I ran the Leadville 100 Trail Run.

Or at least part of it....

Until realizing I grossly underestimated the aggressive cutoffs the first 50 miles of the race.

.....and had to turn around near mile 45 atop the infamous 12,000ft Hope Pass.

Factoring in the cutoffs is a small detail.....

But an important detail.

A detail I missed.

I think I got MOST of the training right.

The hill training.

The altitude training.

The nutrition.

But that wasn't quite enough.

In most endeavors, getting 90% of it right will earn you an "A."

But for other endeavors......building pacemakers, launching men into space.......and running ultra marathons......... getting 90% of it right is a failing grade.

There is very, VERY little margin for error when competing at the highest, HIGHEST level.

So I have a confession.

When I realized I missed the cutoff and my race was over.......

I was relieved.

That's right......

RELIEVED.

Relieved that there would be no more middle of the night runs up Mt. Evans, no more pre-dawn  repeats up Green Mountain before work, and no more drives to Colorado Springs to hoof Pikes Peak and the Manitou incline by sunrise.

No more conquering.

Believe me, I loved "the journey" the last 8 months-----the training, the diet, the people I met along the way. Heck, I even ran into Scott Jurek on Pikes Peak!

Training for an ultra marathon----especially the Leadville 100 Trail Run----is a quasi science experiment where YOU are the test rat.  And given the exacting and demanding nature of the training, you can't help but become an amateur physiologist and nutritionist.

It's great stuff.

"Once in a lifetime" kind of stuff really.

But I'm done.

I am done conquering.

At least for a while.

For me, whether it's on the trails or in my career, I have discovered a place where conquering for the sake of conquering tears me DOWN instead of builds me UP.

A place where pushing to the next level just because I CAN.......doesn't necessarily mean I SHOULD.

Training for that NEXT 100-miler.......

Leaving teaching for an administrator position.................

These are things I COULD do.......

Things I COULD continue to conquer....

But probably SHOULDN'T.......

That's the place I discovered at mile 42 last weekend in Leadville.

Believe me, I still think it's healthy to push ourselves.....

To test our limits.

To conquer new distances, new PRs, new promotions.

I get it.

But I also get that constantly conquering bigger badder distances on the trails and at work has limits.

Things break.

And no badass distance, PR, promotion or magazine article will satisy when things get broken.

So I say keep pushing, keep striving, keep improving and yes......

Keep CONQUERING.

But don't forget to keep LIVING.

And if you do forget........

Don't worry........

I'll save you a piece of pumpkin pie at the finish line.

AMJ