Respect

I remember training with a friend in Boulder during the summer of 2003. We were both in Boulder to get a summer of altitude training and dose of environmental activism (Hi! Do you have a second for Environment Colorado.... Most people didn't have a second).

However I do remember a lot of training runs that we did together and there was one piece of advice he provided me when running the hills in Chataqua. "Respect the mountain" was a phrase that had been stuck in my mind since that summer.

Today I got to thinking about the training that we do and the idea of respect. If we are training with a end result, goal, or purpose then respect should be an important aspect of day to day.

In order to achieve any particular result we must have our body prepared in such a way that it is reasonable for our body to perform the serious tasks that we have it set out to perform.

If you have serious desire to achieve your goals then you must respect the body. There is particular amounts of rest, water, and proper nutrition that go along with the training you do that is going to get you to where you need to be. You don't have to live like a monk, but you should be AWARE of what you are attempting to do and respect your body or it will not act like the vehicle that you so desire it to be.

Respect your goals by respecting the body and always respect the mountain.