Hello Neuroma….
Hello Neuroma, I said with contempt.
Hello Sean, it said in a mocking way.
Anyways, today’s run wasn’t about tempo, pace, intervals, endurance, fartleks or form. It was about remembering. Remembering why I run, what it will be like when I get to run again and how peaceful even twickory can be at 5:45AM. I had to run this morning. It didn’t matter whether it was snowing, raining, sleeting, hailing, firebombing, or blazing sun (that would have felt nice), I was running. I won’t be running again for awhile and I needed that last memory. I’ve been looking for the mental strength to get through the endorphin deprived time that will be most of February and March. Hopefully, by April I will be at least riding hard enough to get some buzz, but I won’t be running. At all. I decided that the same thing that I tell each year’s crop of Snot Rockets – fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life applied to this situation. Oh wait, I meant – mental preparation and mental imagery will get you through the toughest parts. So I would use today’s run to build a mental picture of a run that I could replay in my head.
It’s amazing what can happen when you go out to run with no plan, no route, no expectations and no goals. The miles just clicked away. The first mile started with a shining light that quickly passed and faded. After that the rhythm was easy to find and hold. I never looked at the Garmin, I just ran. I ran pieces and parts of routes that we run all the time. I ran comfortably. I looked around and observed. I soaked in how I felt and the deafening silence that would be shattered by a passing car or dog barking. I didn’t think about the inclines or goal paces. I was relaxed and just striding along through 3 miles. In the distance I saw what appeared to be three lightning bugs flying around a few hundred meters away. Of course it was 24 degrees in February; not likely to see any lightning bugs. As I got closer, they got brighter and brighter. It was the same light I saw starting my run but brighter and greater than before. Maybe I’ll see that light again in the spring. Finally it was time to start heading back, after all, work was calling and as my Father always said, “employment matters.” So as I finished my hour run and turned the final corner back into the ‘hood, I knew that tomorrow was going to be a great day and that I would run again soon, if only through the memory of this morning.
If you run, you totally get the preceding 450 words. If you don’t run, I hope that you have something in your life that fills the same void that we fill with running.
Be well.
