Jun 28, 2014
Coatesville, PA - The summits of great fitness are sometimes eclipsed by sudden descents in crevices unseen. The broken toe scare of 2014 sideline Gabriel's body and psyche for over a month, and yet he still lined up at the famed Mount Washington Road Race.
After 71-minutes of personal worst defeat, Gabriel once again wound up injured. This time, the tendons under his weakened foot, faced with climbing at 12% grades and at 9:00/mi into the clouds were too much to handle. The clouds of frustration once again stormed in...
However, in a miraculous turn of events, Gabriel ignored all the pains, all the tightness and proceeded to stay on schedule. He did cancel his SkyRace debut in Canada, but he continued to train with renewed intensity - albeit, much lower mileage until the storm clouds passed.
The greater concerns are with gaining fitness rapidly, which is not science. However, Gabriel's intent was to continue his 2014 plan, and that includes the USATF Mountain Championships on July 6th. In preparation, Gabriel and his lovely lady, Perla, stumbled upon a great charity run on June 28th.
Gabriel had planned a 12km progression on the roads, but the Chasin' for Chalfin 15K offered a great mix of singletrack, open grass fields, jeep roads, and, more importantly, competition to push the progression. The plan was the first 5km "steady", the next 5km "fast", and the final 5km "hard." Well, that didn't go according to plan, as by 3 miles, Gabriel was toast, had gotten off course and relinquished the lead and his hard-worked lead and gap disappeared in an instant. This was going to be a rough run.
However, amazingly, somewhere in the middle of the run, Gabriel relaxed and opened up and got to a rhythm on the course - he would run hard on the flats and grass fields, and then recover and relax on the windy singletrack. This formula led to a great run with Gabriel feeling great upon finishing the demanding 15km course, winning by over two minutes.
So it will be an interesting journey unto Loon Mountain. There are no promises on performance, just hopefully some healthy training and racing until his body comes around...
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