In her report on the 2005 Laurel Highlands 70.5 mile ultramarathon, Rayna Matsuno tells what happened a third of the way into the race, when she and some fellow runners got lost for a while:

Joyce and John Dodds showed up and eventually our large group found the right way back onto the trail. I walked alongside Joyce and expressed my frustration. Joyce looked me straight in the eye and said, "This is where that sense of humor comes in. Sh*t happens. You just have to deal with it and move on." I thought about the time I almost dropped at BRR. Joyce told me back then to just keep moving, and that it was OK to take it easy if I wasn't having a good day. She saved me then and she saved me at Laurel.

As we approached the trail, I was determined to find my groove again, and a mile or so later, I finally did. The rest of the run was incredibly enjoyable. It was amazing to be surrounded by fields of ferns and run between tall rock formations. Everything was so beautiful, and the light rain topped it all off.

You know you're having a good day when you start developing Forrest Gumpism, when you kind of feel like you could just keep running and running and running.

Joyce's words are worth putting into a box and remembering:

(cf. Eric Clifton (1 Oct 2004), Seneca Creek Greenway Trail Marathon 2005 (5 Mar 2005), HAT Run 2005 (20 Mar 2005), All Good (13 Jan 2007), ...)

TopicRunning - TopicLife - 2007-01-16

(correlates: Comments on 2008-10-04 - Andiamo 2008, QuarterJinx, UnintendedConsequences, ...)