Leona Yog!

It can be fun to embarrass myself via athletic failures.  However, it's much more fun when the failure is spontaneous.  Sometimes I start the day with what seem like realistic hopes for a satisfying performance, then a few hours later I'm resisting the urge to punch some well meaning spectator who is telling me I'm awesome as I'm limping along and being passed by a 77 year-old polio sufferer.  THAT is fun.  Not training, giving myself no chance, and following through with the inevitable stink bomb of an OTCY has substantially less comedic value.  With that in mind, I signed up for a few ultra OTCYs to force myself to put in the miles that I couldn't muster the motivation to put in on my own and hopefully have some minuscule chance at the fast approaching STCC 101. 

A few weekends ago I kick started my STCC 101 crash training with the Oriflamme 50k yog.  It was fun.  Mostly uneventful.  I wasn't very strong, particularly on the long grind of a climb in the latter miles.  There was a guy who did the yog, then broke out his homemade beer and offered it to the group.  The Yogger accepted.  Then, upon seeing the slightly confused look on his face, I realized that everyone else in the immediate vacinity were people he knew, and that he was offering beer to his friends, not strangers.  Still, it was too late.  He gave me the beer.  I chose the Scottish Ale option over the English Brown.  It was in a 24oz bottle.  It was fucking good.  I think the guy's name was Wesley.  I like Wesley.  Oriflamme yog.  Not bad. 

Then last Saturday was Leona Divide 50 mile OTCY.  I made sure to bring my own beer this time.  The Suffer Seeker agreed to partake, and at the last minute Geronimo joined the fold despite not having an official entry.  Awesome.  2:30am meetup at the Oceanside park & ride for the 150 mile drive to the start.  Geronimo was there waiting, fresh as a daisy, while the Suffer Seeker arrived predictably late, half awake, congested, and generally looking like death.  99.9% of the population would have sent an apology text and stayed in bed, but on this morning, something told the Suffer Seeker to ignore his body, crawl out of the yoga abyss and come for yog.  He quickly passed out in the back seat and I got the chance to catch up with Geronimo as I drove.  I hadn't seen him in quite some time and I wish I could put into words how much I enjoyed getting his perspectives on ultra yogging, life, marriage, parenthood and education.  We made good time, I perfected my pre-race nutrition with a couple of cinnamon pop tarts and a Carls Jr breakfast burger value meal, and we got to the race start with an hour to spare.  I spent the rest of the time mostly trying to amuse myself and annoy the Suffer Seeker with talk of the impending yog.  I come for yog.  Why are all these people are here?  Do you think that they know that I am here for yog?  I think I need a sticker to put on my car.  Then they'd know that I yog.  I succeeded in amusing myself.  Suffer Seeker mostly ignored me.  Then we yogged. 

It was a pleasurable yog.  The course had a good mix of ups and downs, but mostly very comfortable grades and runnable trails.  My goals were to practice eating and drinking a lot and see how my feet felt wearing x-country spikes (without the spikes in them).  That stuff went really well.  I'm excited about doing more ultra yog in x-country flats.  Dragging around heavy trail shoes with my spindly calves really does take its toll.  Miles 25 to 30 had a steep down and back along fire trails that sucked pretty hard, but the rest of the day felt really good.  Great success!

Geronimo volunteered to be sweeper for the 50k and managed to get in 38 miles on the day.  SS fell behind me less than a mile in, had a generally miserable day and DNFed at mile 42.  I expected him to be enthused by his experience, after all, he had been given a big giant helping of his precious suffering, but this was not to be.  It turns out that my perspective about the joys of suffering and failure are much different than his.  I continue to find it interesting to see how much I, an INTP, and he, an INTJ have in common in the way we process information and stimuli, but just how different the end result often ends up being. 

Fun day.  I look forward to more yog.