Humble Pie.

My weekend workouts taught me an unwelcomed lesson in humility and complacency. On Saturday morning, Jessi, Bryce, my good buddy Jon, and I loaded up and traveled up the Trace to Alabama. A mile or two across the state line, Jessi and Bryce dropped Jon and me off with our bicycles and headed home. It was a great day for riding. The temperature was perfect, and the wind was into us the entire time -- a slight breeze most of the time, but a substantial headwind for the last 10-15 miles. I had a flat back tire around the halfway point and was able to fix it without any substantial delay or problems (something I've never done on the road before). We rolled into Tupelo a little after lunchtime, worked our way through crazy traffic, and arrived at my house feeling pretty good about ourselves.

Here is where the lesson kicks in. After my ride I felt great and actually developed a twinge of confidence about my upcoming race. I went through the rest of my day, attended a birthday party, played outside, went to dinner, and felt good about things. I felt so good about things that I never made an effort to properly rehydrate or prepare myself for my long run on Sunday. When I left for my run Sunday afternoon I felt fine. I took off (actually running entirely too fast) and realized after about 4 miles that something wasn't right. My legs were fine, but my body really didn't want to go anywhere. I was improperly fueled and dehydrated (worst feeling in the world). Let's just say the next 5 miles weren't pretty, and my twinge of confidence about my race in less than 5 weeks lasted less than a day.

The moral of the story -- Everyone knows not to dwell on bad things and tough times. The past is the past and does not define the future. That is a great lesson, but it is important to realize that it applies equally, with perhaps even more serious consequences, to successes and good outcomes. Just as failure in the past does not dictate failure in the future, success in the past does not guarantee success in the future.

There is no room for complacency in life or endurance sports. Everyone has the potential to do anything, good or bad. In one of my most recent posts I said that "tomorrow isn't promised to anyone." Well, that is true, but odds are that we will get to see tomorrow. Maybe it would be more beneficial to say that "tomorrow isn't promised to be as good (or as bad) as yesterday." You have to make it happen.

*** Saturday, I rode my bike just under 60 miles. The actual workout portion of the ride (before reaching serious Tupelo traffic) lasted around 3 hours and averaged 18.3 mph. On Sunday, I ran 9 miles in 1:25. I ran too fast, wasn't properly hydrated, and had zero fun.

This week, I am on my own for a few days. J & B are headed to Florida right now, so I will be focusing on normal exciting bachelor type stuff -- Working, working out, eating well, and getting as much sleep as possible.

Later.