No hiking in the rain, an injury story and 6:38 pace

Greetings one more time from Indonesia where I have hiked, walked and eaten my way through the most amazing villages on the island of Flores. Today we attempted a hike up Mount Inerie, the highest volcano on the island. The trail gains 3,500 feet in about 2 miles, steep! We knew two things about the climb, one was that it was an obvious trail, always directly up and the other was at the first drop of rain, get your butt down. Well, the trail wasn't as obvious as we had been told, despite using digital mapping, so we spent an hour going a harrowing quarter mile up some scree that will haunt my dreams. Then after righting the ship and finding the actual trail again, it started to rain. Since the trail is basically a deep cut down the hill any rain means potential for flooding and the rains here right now are pre-monsoon level as the rainy season is coming, so there is no messing around. Some days you climb the mountain, some days you turn around and live to see another day. The rain started and we got soaked but we got ourselves down in before it really unleashed. We drowned our sorrows in spicy noodles watching the rain and the lesson I didn't think I would take away from this experience is, HOT DAMN OUR HOME TRAILS ARE AWESOME. Take some time to thank people who do trail work or sign up to do some yourself. The public lands we use for recreation have trails that switchback! Trails that drain! Trails that are signed! We have trails that are steep and others that are great for running or for taking your parents or young kids. It is cyber-Tuesday, not sure how I feel about that, but if you participate, consider a donation to keep the trails you love, the kind of trails you love! 

STRENGTH TRAINING VIDEO LINK
One more week without live Strength Training for Runners on Wednesday night, but HERE is a class from the archives for you. Put it on the calendar so you don't miss a week and grab your weights!  

AN INJURY STORY
I thought this injury story from writer, coach and ultrarunner, Sarah Lavender Smith was well done, important to share and may resonate. "I’m full of remorse, not only for the injury but for how I masked the underlying problem... And remorse for trying to fast-track the comeback during the past three weeks. Why must I fast-track everything? I’m not feeling sorry for myself—I’m feeling pissed at myself."

6:38 PACE
The women's record for the 50-mile distance has stood since 1991. November 9th that record was broken by runner Courtney Olsen clicking off 6:38 pace for 5 hours and 31 minutes. YOWSERS. 
"In the end, all I suffered was a slight haunting of the calf, a toe explosion, and peeing myself. I’d say that’s a damn near perfect execution." -Courtney Olsen on her 50-mile world record run at Tunnel Hill. 

READ UP
Need some new reading material? Outside Magazine recommends some books for adventurers that may be what you are looking for. I put the book, Small Game by Blair Braverman on my list. A novel about a survival show, yes please! 

Happy trails,
Dana