Discovering New Ground II

The new ground I've covered recently has been to experience, for the first time in my life, waking up to the inability to open my eyes, since my own body nocturnally caked them shut with dried mucus. Honestly, I'm a little excited about going to sleep just now, because I want to see whether it will happen again tonight.

So haven't been running this week due to the illness that makes my ears throb in pain, my throat sore, and ocular boogers ooze liberally across my face. However, I've gotten to the point where I'm not especially concerned about throwing off my running schedule. Since it's clear I won't race at Riverside on Saturday, I don't have anything pressing to work towards.

When I do have a race coming up shortly, everything feels rushed. I worry that there's not enough time to get in a good workout, that I need to rest for it, that a certain injury will not heal and will be re-injured, that I haven't prepared well enough recently.

When I don't have a race, I simply understand that if I haven't prepared well, it'll just take me longer to get into peak shape. No problem. I'll wait another month.

The good part of a clear and immediate goal in front of me is that I work harder towards it. The bad part is that I pander to it. So the thing to do is to extract those good elements - a dedication to training rather than running, which sometimes slips away over the summers, and a sense of directed purpose. But to leave behind the fruitless worries and angsts.