The lucid mind can be an alternate universe. That mystic place
between sleep and awake is fleeting yet eternal. The places you’ll go and the
things you’ll see in your dreams are as real as you make them. Dreams allow you
to experience human flight, explore new planets, and breathe underwater. They
can essentially make you a superhero. Those powers vanish the moment you stir awake
from either an alarm clock ringing or a splash of sunlight spilling through a
window. These morning alarms can jar those blissful dreams away. Waking up gradually
on your own time is not only gentle, but a seldom treat with our busy schedules
of everyday life.
I recently had a pleasant dream in which I was fortunate
enough to wake from slowly and with a smile on my face. I was dreaming that I
was running at a fast pace along a beautiful course. The dream itself was not
overly dramatic; instead, what made it wonderful was the opening of my eyes and
realizing I was going to pick up right where my dream left off. I was set to
run in Blue Mound State Park in Wisconsin. It’s about 25 minutes west of Madison
and is quite a gem to run if you want hills. The night before I was generally happy to have my
friend Mike and brother Marvin stay the night with me to go on this little
adventure in my neighboring state to the north. Mike was the one who invited me
to this fun run known as the Frost Bitten Fat Ass 25K/50K. Mike didn’t know
much about it except that it was going to be cold and cold is what Mike likes.
I agreed since I was free that weekend and also wanted to see what the hills
were like that had gotten more than a few mentions on the facebook event page.
This was the third run there hosted by Jason Penticoff and had a good turnout
of about 22 runners willing to pound the hills and take in the thrills.
I wasn’t sure if I was going to run the 50K since I wasn’t
sure how tough the course was going to be. I decided I would do one lap of the
25K course and decide then if I had it in me to run the second lap. As I was
running the first loop I kept looking at the scenery and thinking about how my
thoughts might change looking at the same scene during a second loop. I guess this was mentally preparing me for a possible second loop. Coupled
with those thoughts I had met Anthony, a runner from Chicago, and we had
started running together at mile 5. Talking with him made the miles fly by. Anthony was set on running the 50K and so
when we came to decision time at the end of the first 25K I didn’t hesitate to join him for the second
loop. I was excited that we had finished the first loop in 2 hours and 14
minutes. I figured we could likely finish the last loop in 2.5 hours and finish
this 50K in less than 5 hours.
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| Running with Anthony and another runner on the first 25K |
Dreams are dangerous. Following my premonition from the
night before, I had forecast nothing but a great run. Unfortunately, the run took a bad turn at
mile 22, right at the halfway point of the 25K loop. I got a strong cramp in my
left calf and had to stop to stretch it out. Thankfully Anthony stuck with me
and let me stretch so we could continue running together. He even offered one of his calf sleeves to help with the nagging cramp. I didn’t realize that
I had set up the recipe for cramps in my calves by firstly not having trained
on such big hills, but also deciding to do this run on brand new running shoes.
I had broken in my Patagonia Everlongs with a short 5 miler before, but that
was it. These shoes were very light and much more minimal than I am accustomed
to. But knowing disaster on the run is familiar to me. So instead of making it
a nightmare, I adjusted my pace and attitude to keep this run a good dream come
true.
It was easy to relax on the open roads of the course. There was silence that was
magnified with the bright sun emerging from the clouds. The snow covered landscape added a stillness to complete the scene. I got into a manageable pace slower than
Anthony so he would run ahead and I would keep him in my sights. After he disappeared
behind a hill I felt even more isolated. Then as I crested the hill I saw him
waiting up ahead also looking at the landscape lost in his own thoughts. I was
happy he stuck with me till the end and also reminded me to look around and take in the
views because this is what we were out here for.
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| Running the home stretch with Mike and finishing in 5:23 |
