Reason To Run

I had one of the best runs of my life last night. I got home from work a little early and really didn't feel like running. I changed into my running attire because that is enough to motivate me out the door. Not this time. I snacked on some of the home made pizza that my wife had made for the kids and began to lethargically stretch. I was desperately looking for a reason not to run. Nothing came to me so I headed out the door.

I knew it was hot, but it was cloudy too so I left my sunglasses at home. I headed down the street and less than a minute into my run the wind blew the clouds away and the sun re-emerged, it would stay in my eyes for the remainder of the 4 mile loop. I don't know how that's possible but it somehow worked out that way. The wind was not a nice cool breeze mind you, more of an in-your-face warm Chinook wind. I debated turning around to go get my sunglasses but I knew that if I went back home I wasn't leaving again.

As I reached the end of my first mile I forgot to look at my watch to gauge my pace so I had no idea how I was doing until the half way point at 2 miles. 19:31 a full 30 seconds slower than I had hoped. As I plodded along, the wind began to ease a little, at least enough for the bugs to come out and attempt to fly up my nose and in my unprotected eyes. At this point I was wishing I hadn't gone running. My legs were getting tight, my knee was hurting, my mouth was dry and I hadn't brought any water with me. My stomach didn't feel right and I was now suffering through a series of pizza tasting burps. How I didn't see that coming I have no idea. I picked up the pace with hopes of getting back home in under 38 minutes. As I ran up the hill that is my cursed street I noticed a neighbor's sprinklers were on and were blowing out onto the sidewalk. I prepared myself for a refreshingly cool shower but as I neared the sprinkler's they turned off. I angrily pounded up the rest of street and stopped my watch at 40:17. Ugh!

So why was this the best run of my life? As I walked through the back door, my wife glared at me and said "YOUR son…" at which point I knew it was going to be bad, "… had diarrhea that managed to escape his diaper and get all over the place!" And I missed it all because I was struggling through 10 minute miles. It’s all about perspective.