Still going strong

I am not sure if I am exhausted or not. Some days I find myself bone tired, sore, and wondering if I will every be closer to my goal. The calendar ticks away moving ever closer to that date I will be asked to complete this double marathon and at times, despite knowing I am approaching training in the best manner, I feel like I am standing still. In a few hours I will be embarking on a hike that will take me over part of the course. I will be joined by a few friends as well as my best friend, Kenny. This has been pretty typical of this endeavor. I never seem to be alone. This brings me to a my experience yesterday. I have been contemplating finishing out my season obligations and then taking a break from the skating world to be selfish and take care of myself. While I wrestle with the idea of stepping back from helping people learn, learn to train, and train for a variety of goals I find myself reflecting on why I am making this decision. It is not unlike a grieving process. Yesterday, at the CT Thaw ST meet I was greeted with one of the greatest moments a coach could ever experience. I watched a former athlete, now a junior in college studying kinesiology/exercise physiology offer to do some fitness testing and design a strength training program that will tweak my current plan. I was intrigued. The athlete is now the coach. What I found interesting about this was how his depth of understanding and training philosophy were so familiar. I felt like he was imparting what he has learned in school in the manner in which I would have delivered similar information to him a few years ago. What was even more uncanny was that in his conversation with me I heard every coach I have ever considered a mentor speaking to me. One of the most important things was that he reminded me that despite not ever running/walking this distance I have to remember is that I understand endurance training. It is at the core of my being. Because of this I shouldn't waste time reinventing the wheel. I should go with my gut and just look to optimize what I am doing. He also told me that he had all the confidence in the world that I could do this because I knew what to expect. I knew how it worked. (Andrew, you are the best! Thanks for the gift!) Now off to conquer some mountains!