September 8, 2009 - Return to life

When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love. -Marcus Aurelius

The week long journey through Yellowstone has come to a close and I must say we took advantage of the whole park. We visited all five 'countries' in the park, hiked 60+ miles in 4 days in the back country, did a few nights at a campground, and even managed a night in a nice cabin to let our feet and aching backs heal up. We saw deer, elk, coyote, eagles, and tons of bison. There were many friendly squirrels and chipmunks, a variety of birds, and one night, a chorus of wolves that was too amazing to describe in words. Waterfalls, geysers, cliffs, and rapids that crashed like trains colliding head on. Mother Nature is truly an awesome sight. I am already planning a winter back country trip in order to track a few of the many wolf packs in the park with hopes of getting some amazing photos!

During the week we ate anything and everything we could get our hands on to have enough calories to sustain our hikes. I ate meatloaf, pasta, spam, pounds of trail mix, cheese, bison, and many other delicious, out-doorsy meals. We finished our trip with a giant serving on bison meatloaf, mashed potatoes, corn, and gravy with an ice cold (get ready for this)...beer! It was well deserved and delicious.

As far as Crossfit.com and Ironman training is concerned, I did very little until I returned to Baltimore. My feet were pretty torn up from the hike (Francis had to visit the clinic due to blisters and swelling) and I felt a few days off would do me some good. So after returning Friday night, I spent Saturday with my friend Sarah at a Jimmy Buffet tailgate and concert, Sunday out on a boat and enjoying BBQ, and a relaxing Monday with the huskies in Fells Point! I did get a nice run in with the Huskies on Monday, and hit the pavement hard today:

Training:
9/7/09 - Monday: Ran 4.39 Miles in 32:10 (7:18 pace) - Ran with huskies so couldn't push too hard!
9/8/09 - Tuesday: Ran 5.40 Miles in 37:15 (6:53 pace)

I'm going to start doing more specific workouts for running and endurance.
A few other goals:

• Currently at 175 lbs, I'd like to get to 165 lbs as a maintenance weight. Each pound of extra weight, muscle or otherwise, adds a lot of extra time and energy to a long distance race (such as Ironman). If I want to be serious about how I perform, I have to make this decision now and get to a good maintenance weight.
• September 27, 2009 - 10k Race - I'd like to run it in 39:30 or better. That's a pace of 6:22 / mile which I think is feasible at my current training paces.
  
• Run a sub-5 minute mile by December 1, 2009
  

The trip to Yellowstone is over, my head is cleared and I have never felt so happy about being alive. In the wild, I did a lot of thinking and reflecting. There were many ups, and even more downs as I realized some of the mistakes I made that were foolish, ignorant and irresponsible. I've hurt a lot of people I've loved and put myself in bad situations in pursuit of an escape from reality. But, despite my mistakes, I will move on with few regrets as I have finally found myself and established my purpose (which is the topic for a whole other post). It feels good knowing that from this point forward my life is on the right track and that I control my future successes.

Time to get back into the swing of eating right, training hard, and working on my (often neglected) thesis! I have a few good job prospects if I can just get the last bit of data for my project and start writing! It felt great to be away for a week or so, but even better to be back and moving forward in the right direction.

Life is good...