Ready to Run

The Black Socks Epiphany was all I needed to realize that I can indeed accomplish my mission of running a marathon. Or I guess Running - Period. After Tuesday's victory, I gained the confidence I needed to pound the pavement/treadmill without worry of lingering injury.

As I previously stated, Wednesday was a day off and Thursday would be my next run. As I entered the gym on Thursday, I'll be honest: I felt GREAT! I once again, however, need to owe this energetic excited instance to cake. You see, earlier that morning, my good friend Colby brought to work with him the most perfect little round Chocolate-Peanut Butter two-layer round cake. My first thought was "How COULD you do this..." but mid sentence, as I caught a whiff of that delicious Sweet Life (bakery from whence it came) masterpiece, my criticism shifted to "... and not bring plates and forks?"

So, by 8:45 am, I had consumed my typical morning smoothie and a very rich piece of cake. About a half hour before I left for the my workout, I ate half of a PB&J (lesson learned from Tuesday) and thus felt excellent as I entered the gym.

Once on the treadmill, I was zooming! Running at a great 6.9 pace, reading the news while listening to my iPod and life was GOOD! As I looked in the mirror, I saw a friend of mine who I had exchanged an email with earlier that morning and motioned for him to come over and discuss said email. Now, he is not a peer, per se. He's a very distinguished gentleman who I happen to know because of a non-profit board (Birth To Three / Parenting Now) on which I sit with him (among others). He's a retired Judge and now holds the admirable position of "community volunteer". In addition to his dedication to Birth To Three, he is also the Eugene area Slow Food's chapter President, which was what began our conversation. (I will not get on the topic of Slow Food, but should you be interested, google it and see for yourself what it's about. The moment I begin the discussion of the food we eat in this country, my post will become a novel and no one wants that).

Our conversation while on the treadmill was about many things from Slow Food to Greg's job at the courthouse and his job prospects, to Emelyn, back to Slow Food, and so on. As I was running, I couldn't help but notice his tendency to back away with a fearful look in his eye each time I REALLY had to reach deeply inside my lungs for words to come out. I wondered "were errant pieces of saliva flying towards him?" I finally hit my nine minute walk break and was able to slow down to talk like a normal person who wouldn't run a higher than average risk of spitting on someone mid-conversation. As I began to run again, our dialog ended after a few minutes and do you know what? My run was half way over! What a quick way to complete a workout!!! I was able to distract myself completely distract myself from myself and all of the obsessions / diversions I face while running and just actually RUN. Whoa. What a concept.

I completed my time at the gym with a shoulder workout and some stretching. I felt like I had actually made progress - two great runs in a row. I also deduced that perhaps there really IS some merit to my Cake theory, which of course made me leave the gym smiling.