Eagleton Trail Ultra---Finding My Heartbeat
“I’m going to run a 50k on Sunday”, I told Mark. He gave me that look. That look that I know immediately means he’s running through schedules and commitments. “You’re kinda running on empty. Are you sure?”, he said. “I’m a little lost. I need to find my way. I need my heart to beat”. And, with that, I set off to Pennsylvania for the 50k. My only goal in this race was to find a new normal with my nutrition, which has taken a knock with a new little body glitch. That task actually proved pretty easy to manage. All I had to do is stop looking at what I could NOT do, and focus on what was still available to me. True, I had to open my mind to food choices I had not previously accepted, but, all in all, the process was not the roadblock I had expected it to be. The real change hit me when I hit the first hill in the course. My heart was beating out of my chest. I actually stopped to feel it. I took my mind out of the experience, and decided to just feel.