I Believe In Cross Country.

Breakthrough workouts are multi-faceted. They aren’t always when we expect them to come. Honestly, I find them to be nearly always serendipitous. Today was a break through for me.
I can honestly make the claim, that my love is pure. I love mud, puddles, and fresh air. A meal now and then to keep me going, and the open woods.
Today’s breakthrough was essentially the result of persevering through 20 minutes of empty legs, aiming to be between 140 and 150 beats per minute, after cycling this morning for 21 miles at 29.8k/hr. I was at 131 beats per minute, thirteen minutes into the run. Then I took a turn I have never taken in my running life, because it had a rusty old fence in front of it.
Then I sank into a mud hole, pulled myself out, sank into another, and another, and yet another, until hitting firm earth. I looked at my heart rate: 161 as if I was not even trying. Went as far as the trail went, turned around, and went through all the mud all over again.
So I’m sitting here now, sipping water, crusted in dried mud, heart rate monitor still on, and never really want to wash it off. George Sheehan once wrote “Honest sweat has no odor”.
At the beginning of the run, I was seriously considering truncating it: Making it 3 miles instead of a 6 miler. The legs were dead, the thirst was great, the target was no where to be seen. Then I found nature. I found my primal instinct. I began to believe this run would make both it and myself into something anew. I began to believe that it could fundamentally change my being and my biology. Unequivocally, I know that I Believe In Cross Country.