Track is done. So, let's start XC.
Yeah, no real off season I guess with the late run on track. Some kids will still have some time off, but some already have so its back to base building.
We had the banquet for XC 2020 last night. That's right, because of COVID, we are finally getting to it. I found it surprisingly emotional for me, but in some ways, that ain't surprising at all.
Monday AM - 5.3 miles screwing around with the start of practice.
Afternoon - 5k, with 8 x 200 strides, untimed, on the MS track. Sort of blissful.
Tuesday AM - run around practice. Feeling the work from yesterday. 7 miles. Been summer weather but nicely cooler v. the hot-hot we had a few weeks ago.
Wednesday AM - backed into calls but got in 3.4.
Wednesday PM - I do seem to feel better and perform better most of the time in the afternoon. 4.6, moving pretty good on the ditch-Ridgeview loop (up the water tower hill) at sub 8. That's pretty good for me these days for a training run.
June 30 ... halfway through the calendar year, sitting at 1247 miles according to Strava.
Wednesday night was the track 2021 banquet.
Thursday AM - 8 miles around practice.
Friday AM - 8.1 miles, post practice did 6 x 300 on 200 rest just untimed and as pickups.
Saturday AM - 8.8 miles. Hot. Was feeling pretty beat at the end and so rather than slog the miles I decided to just push on blocks, off blocks.
Sunday AM - 8.5 miles. Got attacked by some nesting bird in the Commons as I jogged through. That ain't gonna go well for that bird tonight when there are 10k people there for fireworks.
Feeling good about how I managed the second half of the week, and well, the week overall. Some of my better miles, some miles not just a slog and getting a few reps of something above the jog. Ain't calling it anything yet, just enjoying it. 56 plus miles on the week. That is the most by a bit in a bit.
My Achilles issue kept me from my racing goals last year, namely Pikes but it also unraveled my pack burro racing and running. I found that to be a bit of a welcome respite, because burro racing is pretty consuming to the summer, and ... well, there has always been a fair bit of drama around pack burro racing that tends to suck up some degree of emotional energy unnecessarily. And it is stuff the donkeys really don't give a crap about. It has been things like if pack saddles have to be of a certain weight (and different requirements for mini donks), can runners get assistance on the course, if an intact jack ought to race, if a pen can be counted as a pick axe (no really that happened), if the races should be divided up for men and women, cut off times, different start times, how many race teams can be in the race, and if those who rent donkeys are undermining the culture of the sport/ if someone is not a real racer unless they own their donkey. Most of this the donkeys don't care about (they might have a word to say about pack saddle weight tho). But as long as I have been involved in burro racing, there seems to be a tradition of quibbling over such things.
This year, there is a fair amount of debate as to if the Fairplay race is in its 72nd or 73rd year. While the town cancelled their race last year, there was a race held last year. While it was on a different course, there have been changes to the courses over the years for a variety of reasons. In addition to what to put on t-shirts (72 or 73), the whole affair has further been escalated as some have declared the winners of the race last year won't get their names (and their burros names) placed on the traditional Prunes monument sign. The personalities around this - none of which are donkeys - create the additional so-called "donku-drama." The very new RD of the Fairplay race (who many would say has had a history of controversy related to his "management style") has added his fuel to an already well stoked fire, that is often already fueled by a passionate hard charging and hard working folk who have deep history and involvement in the game.
Again, sort of glad to miss that, but I'll add my take: no harm to put the winners names on the board. Who gets hurt by that? Put it up. In fact, sort of a shame if you skip it. I have yet to hear a good reason to deny that. What is the issue if it is called 73 instead of 72? They ran probably 30 miles last year. Call it the 73rd. Meh. I don't hold any expectations that this blog in the underbelly of the blogosphere changes anything. I wouldn't however be surprised if even expressing the views I have shared here further fans the flames and irks people. \
