As Reality Sets Back In...

The Pacific Ocean.

I don't quite know how to out into words how deeply I have been affected by my stay in the mountains. It has been just over a month since my race and nearly 2.5 weeks that I have been back in San Luis obispo CA. Every night I dream I am still in the Alps. I climb higher. Snow is crunching under my shoes as the morning sunrise filters in. I laugh and smile, filled with joy to be sharing this moment with a friend who is just ahead. At the top of Brevent we rest a moment, make breakfast plans and then take off down the endless switchbacks at top speed. We are dancing, leaping, singing... I have picked nearly a bouquet of flowers and placed them all in my hair. "J'aimerai une cappuccino et croissant" echoes through my mind...
Waking up is hard. It's hot and stuffy in my apartment and I look out my window to see the neighborhood frat stars picking up red cups in their backyard. Sadly, there will be no croissant or sunrise mountain summit. My day will instead be consumed with frantically studying and desperately trying to remember how to draw the chemical mechanisms for glycolysis.

Sunrise Summit in SLO instead

It's really hard to be back from a magical dreamland place. As a young, imaginative, impressionable, wide eyed person, I was drawn in by the allure of the people, the tall mountains, and euro culture. I have already begun to plan my return.
But I must accept it and find joy in other things for the time being. My memories and dreams serve as motivation to finish my undergrad degree, work hard and diligently at my job, and gain more running experience so I can soon be back in France.
It hasn't all been terrible; I really shouldn't be complaining. I go to a very good school with great trails. My job was waiting for me when I got back, and everybody I work with makes me so happy all the time. My classes are very fascinating (which also makes them incredibly hard) but my professors are supportive and super cool.

Girl Power Rocks!

Since the race, I have felt exhausted all the time. To quote Rory, "I feel like I am dragging a piano behind me". At first I thought I wasn't recovering well and that the race had taken a lot more out of me than I thought. Then I thought, okay. A month later? It must be my iron. I have been sleeping whenever possible: long nights and naps all the time. Turns out, I have mono. This explains quite a lot- while I have had some quality training sessions, many of my runs have been dragging, slow, hard and I haven't been able to hit a groove. It's very frustrating, as this is my escape back into the dreamland, and I have so much work to do with my busy school schedule.

Workout Wednesday!

Despite the sickness, I am still kicking. I'm highly functional. I've been hitting the track weekly and the fast pace is exhilarating and consistent. It's exciting how "comfortable" it feels. Though it most always means I am wicked sore the next two days! I am also back to long runs with Tera Dube, my boss and super rad ultra runner. Just this past Saturday we ran 20 miles out at Santa Margarita Lake, which is just outside of slo. It was beautiful and all new trails! Yippee! A couple of other women (and one guy; girl power yeah!) joined us, including "Lil D" Denise Bourassa. I felt like a wuss for dragging at some points since she just finished the Ultra Grand Slam in a dominant fashion, but her ultra experience is so widespread and she is a pro, after all...

Oh Oh those summer nights!

I am psyched to continue working with Meghan as I prepare to tackle the TNF endurance challenge 50mi in December. (Fun fact of the day: TNF EC 10km in 2011 was my first trail race. Boy was it a big time learning experience!) though I am still not 100% and this mono is seriously putting a damper on my training volume & quality, I can't express how happy I am to have Meghan as my coach. I've never felt stronger or been able to execute training quite like this before. My race was unreal and I attribute my ability to finish it to the great coaching & melodious way we can work together. 2015 is still in the works, but we will come up with something challenging, adventurous and exciting!

New trails lead to new views

My beautiful RNA isolation 2nd to right.

Well, I have a genetic engineering biotechnology and metabolism midterm this Thursday so I must get back to studying... Stay tuned! Très bisous!