Running with the Pink Horses

Megan (right) celebrating a goal by her cousin Katie (left)

This has been an interesting block of training leading up to the Quad Rock 50.  I began coaching my daughter's U9 soccer team (The Pink Horses) in March, which coincided with the 7 week window I'd planned to ramp up my training.

As a first time coach, I wanted everything to flow smoothly.  Of course, I've been humbled by the process and understand now that my expectations of working with twelve 9-year-old girls must include some bumpy waters.  Coaching has been a rewarding, but somewhat stressful experience for me.  The amount of planning and coordination is immense.  Most of the time I feel completely inadequate for the task.  Combine that with the fatigue of training and other demands of life, and it's a recipe for burnout.  Thankfully, I'm surviving just fine and wouldn't change a thing.  We've had some highs and lows, which sounds a lot like running  The highs have been pretty darn special as each of the girls have such fun and unique personalities and leading them on this journey has been a privilege.

With Quad Rock now less than two weeks away, I'm ready to roll. I've accomplished everything I planned for my training with a nice mix of vertical, hiking, long runs, night runs, high mileage.  About 95% of my miles have been on trail.  Sleep has surely been sacrificed, but I hope to recover a bit in that department now that I'm tapering.

Quad Rock will be a beast of a race, but that's exactly what I feel ready for.