Little Red Running Hood

Miles 555 + Summer training has almost come to an end… and fall is upon us.  Fall brings a marathon and all of the glory and dedication and hard work that comes with training for a marathon…… it also brings risk for injury…. self doubt…fear…disappointment…. happiness…fear….excitement…adventure… fear…. A phrase that I have been running through my mind is this…. "never let your fear determine your fate." Every tuesday…. when I am afraid the run work out might kill me…..afraid of how good everyone is….or on sat when i fear I may not be able to go the distance…. it is with a deep breath and courage that I show up.  And run along side some of the most talented athletes in our community… well… actually a few miles behind them…. but still…. This weekend there is an 8k ( 5mile) race.  It is the second in a triple series in which I am in 5th place.  In the confirmation email 1 word stuck out…. TOUGHEST…. as in this is the toughest course of the series… omg. OMFG....

MILES 510 Last week during my long run, a strange idea occurred to me.  I am, by nature, risk adverse.  Very conservative,  not into gambling, never tried any thing involving heights, jumping, flying….. I am an obsessive planner and I tend to be boring and monotonous.  I mean, in a REALLY fun way!   And I started to wonder if athletes behave differently.  If their brains are actually hardwired…. in a different way.  Because…. as we have addressed early on… I am a halflete…. normal person wanna be athlete doing all the things athletes do only like a normal person…. sort of half assing it….. proudly… I might add…. but I digress…. Risk seeking behavior has actually been linked to a dopamine receptor gene….. or in simple terms… different brain chemistry… and the idea that stuck in my head…. as I hold back…. pushing at a steady 60% because I have trained myself to always have a running reserve…. maybe all of those people kicking serious running butt are ...