LIFE BEHIND THE SCENES: The Little Things...

It's funny how the simplest of things can make you happy.

I lost my big toe nail the other day...it made me feel like a runner again.

You know you're a runner when...

It's been a bit of an odd summer...'odd' in a sense that I've probably done the least amount of running (due to injury) in a long time. Actually... scratch that - it's been just plain frustrating.

Summer has always been a bit more relaxed work wise, a time to recharge before tackling the busy fall/winter/spring seasons. In a sense, running is one of those 'things' that re-energizes me. It's like pressing the 'reset' button - letting me start fresh again. Of course, running just for the sake of running doesn't really do it all the time, I'm talking about those moments you have where you can simply let everything go, take a breath, look around...and smile.

-sigh-

Red Devil aka 'the spine'... bringing you up to 2,900m!

Wasatch Crest Trail - Cruisin' the red dirt...bliss.

Wasatch Crew Trail - Been There...

Earth to Phil...

Since I haven't been able to run much, I've actually spent a bit more time on my road bike - it doesn't quite give me that same sense of satisfaction that a run does, but in the right environment, it comes pretty damn close.

Lovin' the road bike - Always gets me to the end of some random road

So after 11wks of so-so therapy, trying my best to stay put (NOT and easy task!) so I can get my team to work on me on a regular basis, I've finally reached a stage where I can run 1, 2...maybe 3 days in a row of varying distance. Slide in a road bike ride here and there to switch things up, add in tons and tons of stretching...et voila - PV is back on the trails! At least for now...

I've been doing lots of this...

And just when I think that things are going well... I inevitably do a bit of this!

BTW, a big UPs to my 'team' for putting the broken bits back together... (Scott @ ActiveMotion, Torben @ Active Edge Chiro, Vanessa @ Back at It Massage and Missy/Heather @ Re:Focus Pilates - Thx!

So what next...? Well, with the tiniest window of opportunity open (it doesn't take me much ;), I decided to enter myself for my 5th TransRockies Run! And since I had done more or less NOTHING to get ready for TRR, I found just the right solution to whip me into shape...I'm talking about a (training) road trip of course!

ROOOAAADDDD TRRRRRIPPPPP!

One of the beauties of having a mobile 'office' is that I can do a lot of my work on the road... so I packed up all my pens, added a few sheets of white paper, grabbed my (red) stapler, my rolodex and along the way picked up a crazy Frenchman who was looking for a ride down to Salt Lake City to unload a few thousand GoodPeopleRun stickers-

SLC? Sure, why not...Not that I needed an excuse to leave town again, but with TransRockies Run looming only 2 weeks away, I figured I could use an extra week or so of touring the extensive trail systems in Utah/Colorado to log some km's and get used to the thin air before the big show.

Salt Lake City... Park City....check.