Northern Serenity

After a busy week of travelin' and a whirlwind return to home, there was nothing finer than driving a few hours north to the mountains and retreating from all civilization, surrounded only by the finest and most select group of friends. That's right, this weekend Liz and I drove up to the ADK region to join up with our good friends who hold an annual October weekend gathering at their cabin. Miles and miles from anything, the weekend's festivities typically include running, fishing, hiking, swimming, and biking, along with some serious eating and wine drinking. Talk of business, work, sport and leisure are always in equal abundance, yet all stress and velocity from the weeks past simply slide away. There's really nothing quite like it, and Liz and I are completely thankful for having the friends and the means to share these experiences.

On the sport side of the weekend, I managed a medium length taper run consisting of 12 miles on rolling dirt roads to the tunes of Ben Folds, Counting Crows, Coldplay, DMB, Dido, REM and of course, a little U2. In preparation for the marathon, I really should have kept the distance down a little bit, especially given the severity of the hills. But I felt good, and I knew that I'd be taking in a week's worth of calories that evening... So on I ran. And it went well, though I didn't seem to recover very well, as I woke up the following day with really sore legs and feet. That is, a part of me would have liked to have awoken the following day and thought to myself: "Self, did I really run yesterday? I mean, these legs are as fresh as a fist full of daisies?!?" Alas, this was not quite the case, but I'll attribute it to the difficult terrain in combination with the abnormal heat, and hope I've done all I should (well...) to prep for the big one next weekend.

Zooming back down 87 (or, the Northway, as they call it - even when you're traveling south), I always find it a bit bittersweet. On the one hand, I find myself behind the wheel, watching the mountains get smaller and smaller as I travel home, thinking how nice it will be to be back in the comforts of my digs. On the flip side, that magical feeling of emotional weightlessness up in the mountains - that feeling where not a single worry in the world is at the forefront of my mind - fades fast. And soon, I know I'll be right back in it. Right back down to earth, and into my day-to-day. Into my Daily Grind.

I suppose if it were not for the day-to-day, however, the mountain life would never be nearly as sweet.