Run, Koper, run

I already wrote about Day 0 and the eventful Day 1, so let's take it from there. Getting up on Sunday was pretty tough as I had a hard Saturday, didn't get too much sleep and my cold still wasn't completely under wraps. I didn't have much appetite at breakfast but I suspect it had less to do with my cold and more to do with the fact that it wasn't very tasty. Then driving to the park as yesterday and on the way I was still hesitating what to do. The previous day I saw most of the interesting places in the South part of the park. I could tick off remaining trails there to have it completely covered. Or I could drive to the Northern Part. In the end I decide to go to Warner Valley, partly because it's shorter drive but mostly because I hope it'll be slightly different than the central part of the park. Also on the first day I had a short chat with a ranger and when I asked for best long trails she mentioned Mount Harkness as being the most beautiful hike ...

Finally end of the quarter craziness at work is over and I can start catching up with the blog and Week 35. What happened with week 34, you ask? Well, nothing much. Sadly, for various reasons running-wise that week is nothing to speak of. Not so with this week. Two weeks ago I crossed off Pinnacles from my to-see list and now, thanks to Monday being off (Labor Day), I was planning to do the same with another place that was high on that list: Lassen Volcanic National Park . I did three runs on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday but I made them relatively easy, gathering strength for the weekend. And then I started developing a cold. On Thursday no running but I went to the gym. On Friday my cold was worse and my hamstrings were really sore (from deadlifts, I guess). All in all I was wondering: should I go? However, holidays are rare in the U.S. and vacations are precious so I decided I cannot miss this chance jumped in my car and left around 4pm hoping to beat the worst traffic, which of...

After Saturday's race , Sunday is off but even on Monday I feel wiped out and have post race blues. I force myself to do 12k and it's a pain. On Tuesday it's even worse and I really don't feel like running and decide not to. I'm already in my PJs, getting ready to sleep but then I think, that's not the type of training that will get me through the finish line of the 100 miler in November. I put on shorts and my running shoes and go for an evening run. Afterwards of course I feel better but that moment of switching from PJs to running shorts... tough life. From all my writing on this blog it may seem like running is pure joy and fun. It is a lot of the time and that's why I like it. But there are times, more often than I admit here, I guess, when I really don't feel like running and kinda have to force myself to do so. Actually I don't have to, as I'm running just for fun, but if one wants to be in reasonable form and compete in races at a reas...