Wednesday I wasn't able to get out early, the only time it wasn't raining hard; Sam had a final in Physics. Not only was it raining, but the temperature was just 40 degrees. I was not eager to run the ten miles I had scheduled. In fact, I kept putting it off with the excuse that the rain was supposed to lighten up later. Well, it got so late (with little change in the precipitation), that I figured I'd better switch my ten till the next day and run its six.
Since I was going to be wet anyway, I put on my soggy trail shoes, still wet from yesterday's fun, and headed out into the fields. As I ran, I thought about the joy of my run the day before, how I felt like a kid. This run was really quite the opposite. It felt like a very grown-up run. No kid would be out in this. It wasn't the fun and imagined danger of "Lost in the Blizzard". It wasn't running in rain on a hot summer's day. It was running because I was working towards the Pineland 50. It wasn't joy, but it was satisfaction that I'd made myself get out. It was also pretty cold. The fields were ankle deep with a mix of the cold rain and melt from the last of the snow.
Past the beaver pond, I headed through the woods to run out the gas pipeline path. In the dip before the road, the little stream that I normally just jump across was too wide for that. I figured one step in the middle and I'd be to the other side. What a step! I found myself waist deep. I had figured it was maybe knee deep. Since that's what I expected, the extra drop caught me off balance, I fell forward. Luckily, I was only elbow deep by the time my hands touched down. It wasn't hard to get out. Whoa! Time to head back
My gloves were totally soaked. At least I wasn't too far from home; I'd be fine. So, I almost got in my six and it was almost a grown-up run. I felt pretty much the kid again after my dip.
The making yourself get out there and do it no matter what was probably worth more in the scheme of things than whether you ran six or ten or not at all with regard to the training.
ReplyDeleteThere's an expression in Spanish, "Me da flojera" which literally translates to "It gives me laziness" and I don't know exactly what we would say in the same circumstances but I think making ourselves go run when there would be enough excuses to not go helps us "get after it" in our non-running lives when a task is too messy and we might normally procrastinate or avoid it because "nos da flojera".
I won't even let you hear how I pronounce that, but I love the expression.
ReplyDelete