Another week is past, and more miles added to the training ledger. This week, I’ve worn 18.5 miles worth of rubber off of my running shoes. I felt great, but I felt somewhat worn also. I’ve had a cold this week, which had me down and out for a few days, but somehow I had to manage 6 runs this week. My long run today (Sunday) was only 6.5 files. Only….LOL…see what happens to you when you squeeze 9 miles out of your heart and pour it out on the road. The very next week, 6.5 miles becomes ONLY. Irony is delicious sometimes.
While 6.5 miles is alot shorter than 9 miles…..Sunday represented the 6th day of running this week, and THAT was tedious. By the 6th day of running, I was feeling somewhat weary. Tuesday was my only day “off”. Otherwise, I was logging 2 miles, 2.5 miles, 3 miles all the other days. These miles every day add up. On the positive side, I am growing stronger every week. Both in my breathing and in my body. All this is positive and means more to me than my speed or the distance. All these subtle changes in my body mean…..HEALTH. And that’s a mile marker I will gladly run miles to reach.
Today was gorgeous outside. And my cold was finally leaving me, so I was able to breathe in the cool, fresh air as I ran today. As I was nearing my midpoint turn around point (about 3.25 miles), I passed another runner headed in the opposite direction. He looked like he was in his early thirties, in a red hoodie, and as he passed me —- he smiled and waved. Yup — that made my day. It might as well have been the secret runners-only handshake and password. To me, it felt like confirmation (as HARD as my head can be, I need regular confirmation)...that I am indeed a runner.
I waved back, smiled back, and kept going to my turn-around. As I came back around, I could see him ahead of me in his red jacket…..and I chased him like a dog in a race would chase a rabbit. He was my red rabbit. It took about 3/4 of a mile before Mr. Red Rabbit disappeared ahead of me, fading into the horizon like a red sun….getting smaller and smaller, until he was finally gone. For a moment, I could feel myself going to a negative place …..feeling left behind. But, I caught myself. Stopped that right there, and left it on the side-walk in Spotswood. Because, my running friend in his bright red jacket wasn’t a rabbit….He was a gazelle. And not only just some gazelle…..he was the King of Gazelles! Putting it all into perspective…. I’m just a baby gazelle….a little foundling, really. Barely on my feet, stumbling as I learn to run, somewhat unsure on my feet, but full of unbridled excitement. Just enough to get me into trouble! LOL
But, let us not forget…..baby gazelles can and do grow up! So there is hope for me yet!
Did I say, it was just GORGEOUS outside today? Well, it bears repeating, if I did. We are experiencing a February with temperatures in the 30s to 40s. Wow. What a gift today was! Just chilly enough to pink-up our cheeks and our lungs with all the freshness of brand new winter oxygenation! I tried to breathe in enough to kill off the last of those germs that caught me this week, and enough to clear my mind of all the worries, and home-work I’ve been carrying around like a loaded backpack strapped to my cerebral cortex. Sometimes the best thing we can do for ourselves, is Put.It.All.Down. Just, let it go, leave it be, let it wait. Go do something, Be something free, and disconnected. Let yourself get blown around by the wind a little bit. Let it blow the scent of downy out of your clothes, let it lift you off the ground and take you where ever the wind is going. I believe it is only in those moments of pure freedom that we recharge, rebuild, renew ourselves. And I for one, am NEVER better than when I am wind-blown, and full of the smell of the air, with my feet back on the ground after having run out into the world, releasing all my baggage and come back…. renewed.
Venture outside……it’s friendly out there!
Ciao for now…….Diane