AM I IN THE RIGHT SPORT?

I hope the title of this entry wasn’t too shocking. This is pretty much the first time I’ve looked at my blog in a while, mainly because I’ve been on vacation and because I’ve been finding the computer incredibly boring lately. I went up to Copper Harbor last week and also stayed in Marquette. It was so nice up there. I would move to the upper peninsula, for the summer anyway! For me, the stay up there was intended to be kind of a running getaway, given the excellent terrain, fresh air, and scenery. However, there was no running to be done.
I stopped running entirely about two weeks ago. I found even after consulting the doc, my tendonitis wouldn’t cease. So I started a grueling cross training regimen with biking, elliptical machine, and pool running. After one week away from running, Kim and I decided to try a really light ten minute jog. The tendonitis returned. I cross trained for a few more days until I ultimately realized that even in another week my knee would not be healed, and more than two weeks off from running would damage my running fitness too greatly, not to mention drive me totally insane. I decided that the only thing to do was stop trying to prepare for cross country and let it heal.
So back to the U.P. The main purpose of the trip for my dad was the Ore to Shore mountain bike race, a grueling 48 mile trail ride from Negaunee to Marquette. We arrived in Copper Harbor on a Tuesday and would be racing the following Saturday. I decided I should also take my bike and do some light riding so I wouldn’t be bored when my dad was out. We rode all around the trails in Copper Harbor. I was surprised how easy 2 ½ hours of riding was after not biking at all in about 2 years or so. The next day, we decided to ride up Brockway Mountain drive (photo from the top) Brockway Mountain drive leads 4 miles up to about 1300 feet elevation. It is incredibly steep and difficult to negotiate by any means other than a motor vehicle. Oddly, I found the ride quite enjoyable as I easily left my dad behind on the way to the top.
Encase I didn’t mention it already, my dad isn’t exactly weekend warrior Joe Mountain-biker. In the Michigan MTB series he rides in expert class. There is beginner, sport, expert, and elite class, elite class being similar to Hanson’s runners and/or top college runners. So there is some perspective for you. Anyway, even before the trip my dad was telling everyone I was going to do Ore to Shore. I just laughed. There was no way I was going to do that. But as that week went on, and the more riding I did, the more I thought I could do it, just for a leisurely ride. I figured I would just hang on with to my dad for a few minutes and then take the race easy. But then during the race I got another confidence boost. At one hour (in a 3 hour race) on my dad’s back wheel, I started thinking that it was easy. He told me to go ahead if I wanted to up a steep hill. I did. After that I didn’t see him again. I beat him with 3:18:42 to his 3:24.xx. In actuality it would have been only a two minute margin, as he stopped to replace batteries for his helmet cam. But nonetheless, I was kind of shocked.
Since then I’ve been thinking about it. Am I really in the right sport? I stopped mountain biking almost five years ago to take up running. Why? To help out my high school team, amongst other reasons. I had been biking even since I was a little tyke. When I was six or seven years old, I was riding around the lake at Stoney Creek. Could this have set me up physiologically to be a natural biker? Could I be an elite class mountain biker, or even national class? One thing is for sure, I couldn’t take off two years from running and come back and run a decent half marathon, even if I biked my ass off. There are just so many factors, so many things to consider.
This has been a long entry, but an important one, and if you have read the entire thing, I thank you. I would also love to hear any comments, suggestions, and whatever you would like to say in regard.