7 Days to Go: big silver bird

Next week it is then.

When I reflect on the overall block, if I am being honest it has fallen short of where I would wanna be. I mean, it has been decent but due to the issues I have documented over the last 10 weeks or so, it has been just decent.

Last week I told the tale of a dog with the sh1ts. Here it is if you missed it: https://www.pyllonultra.com/insideout/14-days-to-go-sick-as-a-dawg

Thanks so much to the people who reached out to check in on Nugget. By Tuesday he was fine and Louise was celebrating solid stools and sleepy nights that much that it reminded us both of when Euan and Caelan started to sleep through the nights and were out of nappies. Never thought I’d be back experiencing that emotion again!

The 1st of the taper weeks was last week. A pretty formulaic week as I ready for Toronto. Cruised through with no issues. Well actually, there was one.

Saturday was a tad stormy. I was to do a 17.5 mile run with 2x 3k pick ups which I did comfortably under target MP despite the conditions. The wind and rain were coming in sideways from all directions. It’s how I imagine the clothes in a full spin washing machine feel. I ran a cracking loop. 70% of the run was ankle deep in water. I’ve been told a million times not to exaggerate but as a man on the gallows would say: allow me some rope.

Around halfway I could feel the tell-tale signs of chaffing coming on. There was no choice but to run home and that was to be into the wind. And the rain. That meant one thing, the chaffing was gonna get worse. By the time I finished I was running as if I had just hoped off of a horse after a 300 mile ride with no stops. Doing the 2nd of the 3k pick-ups in full chaff mode 5k from home was, well, character building!

The pain in the shower was so bad I almost cried. Instead I just sobbed the way I did on Thursday when the Blue Jays got pumped out of the MLB Play Offs. Even the application of some cream to the sensitive parts where the chaffing was worst was so painful I wanted anaesthetic or morphine, just something for the pain. But, I survived.

Of course, I am man. Therefore my pain threshold out of 10 is somewhere between 1-2.

That in itself was my block in microcosm. An uncontrollable getting in the way. Me pushing through and finding a way, but to get to the outcome I wanted wasn’t in the flow I am used to.

Next week my race strategy is simple. I think I have a 10% chance of a PB assuming travel and sleep all play nice when we head out on the big silver bird on Friday. That means I will go out at PB pace and calibrate at halfway. If it is on, I will suffer as much as I can. If it is not, I will still suffer and run with heart and joy.

No matter how many hours, minutes and seconds the race takes I will not take any of it for granted. To be able to do this is a privilege. The travel, the family and to have the health and means to run.

I will remind myself my average is someone else’s greatest ever, and my greatest ever is someone else’s average. We all have our own place and pace. But regardless of time taken, my experience is what I choose to allow to be. And it will be awesome.

Thanks for reading!
(Written by James Stewart)