Beautiful sunny morning, with expected highs in the 100s this weekend. Happy to have flipped beds this week, transplanting lettuce heads and direct seeding dragon beans. All of our plastic culture was weeded and has been watered well. While we lost a lot of plants at Happy Heart farm, what is remaining looks stellar. Chiles are struggling a bit at south farm but have popped since being weeded.
Been running a total of over 30 miles per week since getting Covid. These miles are exclusively on trails and my runs average over 1000 feet of elevation gain. I start work at 7, staying on the farm till 3, run for a couple hours in the evening, eat dinner, and get to bed by 10. Slow long runs, race pace.
There is something about the three pursuits of running, farming, and writing that are connected. They share a similar thread. For one, they all take time. Writing itself takes the least amount of time averaging only a couple hours a week, while farming is a full-time job.
Monotony must be a piece as both running and farming can be unceasingly repetitive and boring. These activities have become more a battle of the mind for me. I come up with mantras or breathing practices to keep going when I want to give up or create achievable goals to keep momentum. Both provide a lot of time to think. Both require pulling out of low points. Both have highs after doing well. Maybe that is why running came to me. Watching a crop fail, or pushing through pain to finish a task is simply a part of growing food. Long runs especially require mental fortitude to come out of the lows and find the highs.
I have two more weeks to train before tapering into race shape for the end of the month. I am definitely looking forward to the race, trying to run my best race, and lowering the amount of training I am doing. While it is a great hobby, running the way I have been requires more energy than I feel able to give for much longer. The rewards of the training have been great though. My body is not only getting stronger, but my mind and spirit have been growing as well. It takes a certain spiritual effort to find the time to smile during these evening runs after already being outside all day. There is no certainty for what lies ahead, but I am very curious to find out.