running since gracie . . . taking the good with the bad

things have been a whirlwind of craziness ever since we drove back from the hospital with the new little one. i haven't had time to do much of anything and have barely squeezed in a few training sessions. some things have been epically beautiful, others have been tragically low. so here they are the good and the bad over the last couple of days.

-it's thursday night. i haven't run since monday morning. the first few strides down the street away from my house are so amazing i can't even begin to describe the euphoria of it. breathing in that air, movement of body, pounding of heart, after such a long break. i am a runner. i know realize that i can never stop.

-i mark out 200m in the darkness with the aid of my garmin. my hope is to do a twenty minute warm up, 6 strides, and then 10 x 200m repeats with a minute break between each. then a ten minute easy run. then repeat. but it is already late. my legs are tired. my body is week from little sleep. i do the 6 strides and then do a cool down. i'll save this for another day.

-it's friday afternoon. late in the afternoon. i'm fighting to stay at my easy pace of 7 minute miles. i'm easily doing 6:54's. as i enter the belcrest cemetery, i realize that it is stupid to put this much effort into staying slow. this is when i decide to move onto the next fitness point level on mr. daniels' chart. i am one step closer to reaching my goal. i smile, though barely perceptible.

-i'm fight three different pains. a deep thirst from this hot weather. a pressing desire to sit on a toilet. a sharp sting in my eyes from the sweat running of the brow. afternoon running is NOT fun.

-i'm excited to hit my run today at the sprague track. it's a new track and i haven't done any speedwork on it. i am ready. i am excited. let's do this.

-i'm sitting in the outhouse at the track after doing my warm up and two sprints. this is frustrating. even more so, i hear band instruments. as i open the door, i see that the high school marching band has taken over my track. i have to run by them to get my water bottle and t-shirt. i head to the middle school 'track.' a bumpy, old, cement track. but at least it is marked out every 50 meters.

-i hit my first five 200m's right on pace at 34 seconds (some even at 33) with a minute between each.

-i can't finish the last five 200m's. the outhouse is calling again. aaaaarrrrrgggghhhh. afterwards. i run around the track and get ready to hit more 200's. the urge comes again. out of frustration i leave the track.

-some punk middle school wanna be skaters walking down the street from the 7-11 with fountain drinks look at me, smile, laugh. one of them does a mock victory cry. i mock him back. he mocks me back. i end the conversation with boo-ya!! why is it that i can go months without getting heckled in morning runs and then get mocked every day of afternoon and evening runs? i have a theory that stupid people don't wake up before ten in the morning.

-it's sunday morning. i've had enough of this. my training is suffering. i wake up early, as i should, and do my six mile run. this is awesome. this is epic. this is running as it is meant to be. this is the running that i have missed. though i may regret it, though i may have to go to bed way earlier than i want, though i may have to drink ten shots of espresso, i will wake up early tomorrow and go to the track.