Today was the perfect day to get in another training run for December's ultra. I mean, we're talking 70 degree weather with a light breeze blowing. You know what I'm talking about -- you wake up in the morning and distinctively know there has been a huge shift in the weather. Summer is being kicked to the curb by her big sister fall. Summer, feeling neglected, begins to slither away, much like this black snake I encountered on the trail did today.
I couldn't be happier. Bring on the hot chocolate, extra blankets, pumpkin spice latte, and watching the Cowboys lose. Your friends can now wear a giant oversized hoodie to completely hide the consequences of eating too much ice cream during the summer. And, because it gets dark early, you have a completely valid excuse to go to bed early. Not to mention the fact that the colder air mass evicts mosquitos and other annoying flying bugs from your backyard.
September is my favorite month for running. Orange everywhere. Cool nights but still warm-ish days. Fewer thunderstorms. It takes absolutely no motivation to get outdoors for an 11-mile run.
Everything screams, "Go, go, go!" If summer is too hot and winter too cold and spring too messy, fall is perfect. You can sit back and relax through most of it. Fall feels so dramatic, like the calm before the storm. At the High Bridge Trail today, I ran a lonely part of the course that racers will have to navigate not once but twice during the event. That's a very good thing.
Which brings up a question. You know I'm going to ask it so I might as well get to it. Can you get fit? No! You can get to Dallas, you can get to a meeting on time, you can get ready for winter. But you can't get fit. Fitness is never one and done. It's a never-ending process. However fit you are on September 25, 2026, a year from today you will either be fitter or less fit. It's totally up to you.
Isn't the trail gorgeous?
Just remember that your biological clock is ticking. Both time and gravity are working relentlessly to slow you down. So stop overthinking things. Just tell yourself you're going to get up in the morning and go outdoors for a walk or a run. Do not look at your calendar and decide you're too busy. Don't think up excuses. And for Pete's sake, stop comparing yourself to others. Just because some runners train 30 miles a week doesn't mean you have to. This is your journey. Do what's right for you. If this means taking baby steps, so be it. Ain't nothing wrong with that. But you do have to move. Trust me on this one. Something happens to us physiologically when we move, when our body becomes active and our heart rate becomes elevated. It's a legal high, people!
That's all I got for now. Just some reflections on fall most of you already knew!