Concentration – Training on Trails

I crazily signed up for a 50k that will be on a local trail December 2nd.
While the race is more than three months away (and I have a marathon in October), I realize it will be here soon. Will I be ready? I am confident I will be able to do it, but I want to run it strongly, and I’m not ready for that.
Today, Megan and I ran our first run on the trail. We’ve hiked it many times but running it is completely different. Running up those hills was hard. Running down was obviously easier but I had to be very careful not to trip as I seem to be having issues staying on my feet.
To avoid falling (I did trip at the beginning) required great concentration… much more concentration than running on pavement. This was a good thing. I love the ability to think about life when running and I do much sermon preparation while running. But lately I’ve been fatigued with thinking. Not with sermon prep, but rather with thinking about the state of our world. It turns out that I today I couldn’t think about anything except the trail. The benefit of this was that my body was tired but my mind a spirit were rested. I love running!