Been thinking of adventures lately.
Trying to train for the events I've entered this year, one of the things that I opted to do was to limit the events that I did; so perhaps I opted to not do, would be better terminology? Whatever... Anyway, in retrospect, the last few years had seen me do all the local races and ended up with me going just that bit too hard, that bit too often and ending up a bit too tired, and plodding. I'd lose the desire to get out and run to the degree I otherwise would've and then the 'too hards' would become 'more-than-a-bit too hard' and so on and so forth.
So I've backed away from events for the coming year. One of the things with this is, it has lead to me being able to plan some slightly more unique kind of longer runs. No need to 'train on course' in quite the same manner, after all.
Some of the routes are not likely to be overly realistic this year. A local 90-odd km and 4300m of gain? No, that is a solid run that is not gonna be palmed off as 'training'. Not this year anyway. Maybe if I looked to do Tour Des Geants or something in the distant future... but at the moment, I doubt that is likely to ever happen. Cos as I've started looking at the different options, I've also started seeing different options. And listening to the Fastest Known podcast, with all the various FKT type adventures has probably further whetted my appetite for this type of running, rather than more events - as fun as those are every now and again.
Sure there are certain events that I really enjoy - locally, Mt Misery is fun - but then again, it is there every single day and I can go up and down it to my hearts content. Wonderland has secured a place within me, but there is a lot more to search around in the Grampians than just that one route. I'm not likely to hold down any FKTs, but the self-supported, adventure aspect is pretty cool to ponder upon.
But I guess with my original Iconic Trail Project, this shouldn't be too surprising. In some ways, it's full circle; in others, the racing has just been a bit of a distraction, an itch to be scratched perhaps...
But yeah, adventures. Big and little. Major or micro. Stuff that fires up life is the way forward for sure. Of the 168 in a week, pretty sure that I can spare a few to do something adventurous and still have plenty for the everyday mundane.