Running Wild

Last night, before I went to bed, I thought, "Think I'll run tomorrow". When I woke up this morning, I was almost giddy with anticipation.

To celebrate my 50 birthday year, I ran the Columbus Marathon. It was on October 15, 2006 (I know this, not only because it's the day I ran and finished a marathon, but also because it was Tall One's and my 29th wedding anniversary). My younger son, PHD, and his lovely wife, Master's, live in Columbus, so Tall One and I stayed with them for the weekend. Master's went with me to register and pick up my race packet the day before the "Big Day", Tall One and PHD saw me off at the start, and all three of them (Tall One, PHD, and Master's) welcomed me across the finish line. It was the best run of my life. I have pictures of me smiling and waving crossing the finish line. The day was cool, the sky was blue, the course was flat, and I ran like the wind.....well, not really but poetic license....
I'm actually a really, really slow runner. I do not run significantly faster that I walk. Seriously. That's why my run/walk ratio of 3min/2min yielded a finish time of 5 hours and 18 minutes. I could not have run it that fast. I could not have finished at all running all 26.2 miles. My body would have disintegrated.
I know this because of all the training I did. I trained for 10 months. During that time, I increased my long run from 3 miles to 24 miles. I would start in the dark, in the rain, in the wind, in the cold. I endured colds, inflamed tendons, sore muscles, once when I ran 20 miles in the rain in a sports bra that had seen better days, a breast infection. For 10 months I was sick or hurt. But, it was so worth it. I have finished a marathon. The only thing I regret is that I did not beat Oprah's time. But, she has connections.
Today, I ran. I ran three miles. I ran a truly lovely course. There is farmland with cows, and sheep and baby sheep (lambs). I always tell the sheep how nice their babies are. Because they are truly nice. I talked to construction workers. I learned that the route I ran today will be widened by twenty two feet. That's good and bad. Maybe good because it will improve the road conditions, bad because the traffic will travel at twice the speed of light on the new, improved road. I thought of how I envy construction workers two days a year. On the brilliant, blue sky, 65 degree days of spring. And, how I feel their pain on the other 363 days. And, then, I thought about nothing.
It took me a long time to recover physically from the marathon training. It has taken me a much longer time to recover mentally. Today, finally, I have once again experienced the joy of running. I am not going to ruin that by training for anything.