Chili

Always a chance to get something done when it's so nice out. This helps.

Saturday was our weekly 90 minute spin in which we stretched out the intensity and sincerity via the infamous Double Shot protocol. TWO tunes standing followed by a multi-tasking high cadence sit. Multi is used to represent the duality in a simultaneous recovery from AND prepare for, song. It is work. But, and this is where the magic is pulled from the hat, you get used to it. You can actually feel yourself adapt to the stress and duration, with a very measurable point in the sit song that designates the transition from recovery to prep. It is like seeing your shadow on a sunny spring day, "There it is." Good stuff, and most welcomed.

Later Junior and Michael dropped by for a trail walk to the beach, a little catch in the park and a chili burrito. Junior is honing his baseball chops to the point that a few of his tosses put that old and familiar sting back in the palm of left hand.

This morning we carried the Toe Jam torch into year 32. The field was down slightly from last year (a record six) to just Ironman Bob and myself. Made no difference to either as the 13.1 rugged miles were traversed with relative ease, Bob staying on course this year and taking the TJ32 crown with a snappy 1:42 to my 1:45. As excuse du jour I will claim the four minutes spent in a rather convenient porta-potty at Ft. Ward, dealing with the remains of the chili-burritos.

Tomorrow is Boston. As I sit with muscles in full-on recovery, it is good to remember that this is part of that. If you want to run, run fast or run long, there is going to be some sacrifice. It is going to sting a little. It will not always go exactly as planned. There will be unavoidable stops. But we endure. We accept that the flow isn't always as swift as we had hoped, nor the outcome always jubilant. We learn little lessons along that path, adding to our stores. Trusting that one day, maybe, with any luck at all and with a boat-load of courage and consistency, all the lessons will provide a taste of victory.

Lesson number 438: When Junior asks for chili, that doesn't mean YOU have to have it too.

Pix: RG and me at Boston finish in 1997. Shadows on the deck. Junior at the beach.