Work to do more work

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My daughter, age 13 came home from school with the news she got a call back for the school play after auditioning for the part of Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. In one swooping emotion she expressed the highest level of excitement followed by a dip into the reality that getting the part would mean a whole lot of work.


"I feel you," I told her, "I'm doing the same thing over here."
I am throwing all my effort behind training for a marathon ... so I can... run another marathon?
(my big goal is running the Chicago and Boston Marathons)


Let's face it. When put that way it does sound somewhat peculiar. What kind of optical illusion am I creating for myself?


One way or another, the cycle of work and recovery is a maddening. I get to the point where I'm not sure I can possibly manage to do this any more and then Wednesday comes along, my rest day, and I get enough of a break that I feel tricked into starting again on Thursday with some more miles and the whole deal starts over again.


Lest we end on a doom and gloom note, it is rewarding to witness progress and have small wins along the way. I recognize my body's adaptations. It is neat to have instances where what was hard becomes a little easier.


Pretty soon we'll all be running in shorts again and that will help tremendously and perhaps I'll feel a little less crazy.

Traverse City Michigan circa May 2023

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