Living…

From my deck in Chattanooga I have a great view of Lookout Mountain approximately two miles away. A map of all the trails on the mountain looks a bit like a serving of spaghetti and I’ve run or hiked several. Most make for challenging running.

Over the weekend I saw that a race is scheduled on the Guild Trail so I gave it a try. The Guild Trail is on an ancient railroad bed and perfect for running as long as you like running uphill. As I’ve been running ten kilometers a day, I ran 5k up and then turned to head back down.

I promptly tripped and fell. That’s become a regular occurrence. It seems that when my palms almost heal, I have another fall and tear them up again.

Of course it sucks having a cut chin, a bruised chest, shredded palms and scraped knees. But there’s something really satisfying about it. I’m putting in work, doing a thing, and have the scars to prove it.

And the progress is remarkable. Going from two miles to three in May was a struggle. Then I made it to four miles on wobbly legs. And then I gutted out a full 10k. Last week I ran 10k+ four times and a total of 38 miles for the week. It never feels like I’m making progress when I’m running but the trend is unmistakable.