Back to the Early Days

Woke up late yesterday and wasn't able to get my Wednesday run in. Instead, I ran today, and I will run again tomorrow. This will still give me a day off from running before Springfield, since I will not be running the Tulsa Run this weekend, just a day before the Bass Pro Shops Marathon.

Still tapering, I ran a very light 4 miles this morning. The weather wasn't ideal--it was windy and just kind of spitting when I started--but the run ended up being great. In order to get a little extra sleep this morning, and to stay off of the hills, I ran the old neighborhood route I used to run. I really enjoy that old route. It's so much more scenic than the Creek Turnpike Trail. It's also much quieter, without cars speeding by on the turnpike right next to me.

Ironically, being back on this old route enabled me to put aside thoughts of the marathon for a little while. I simply enjoyed the activity of running. It reminded me of the reason I started running about a year and a half ago: simply, to get fit. No long distances. No competitions. That is not to say that I dislike either of these things, but they do sometimes distract me from the sheer activity of running.

At one point during my run, my thoughts did turn back to this Sunday for a moment, and I remembered my goal for these last months of training: to embrace challenge. I have endured for weeks now, but I had forgotten to embrace each training (and the challenge, pain, and soreness that sometimes accompanies). I have learned there is some pain in running distances, but, at the risk of sounding entirely too metaphysical and over the top, it is a great pain (pun intended). A pain worthy of being embraced. And it's a pain that I will never feel performing any other activity...


...except maybe running 50 miles.

10-29-09
Distance: 4.13 miles
Time: 36:27
Avg. Mile Pace: 8:49
Rabbit count: 1