halloweeny

8 miles . . .

today would best be described as a teeter-totter, a giant steep sky reaching see-saw, moving ever up and down, violently bumping from one extreme to the next. at first i thought, this is going to be an easy run. then a minute later everything falls apart in pain, agony, effort, defeat. then it's easy again. hard to find a rhythm, a balance in the midst of this playground mayhem. but i still hit my time. and i suppose that is what is important. as long as i'm not injured or sick, i tread along through my workouts, ever getting stronger, ever getting closer to my goal.

i love fall back. even more so as a runner. i was getting tired of the dark mornings. so much nicer now. the extra hour of sleep was great too.

out of all the things that have frightened me during my runs, some of which i have told here, others which happened before i started this blog (though i will have to share them on a post), this morning was the scariest. i was running along, down a hill in a residential area by my house. i'm just looking around as i often do when i run. taking in the trees, the scenery, breathing in the landscape. i look over at a house. there is a woman standing at the window holding the curtains back gazing out into the street. only there is nothing to look at. no one else is around. nothing is happening. the morning is still early. and there she is just staring, staring at me. like she had been there all night staring into space, just waiting, watching and waiting, until the moment that i should cross her path. standing watch just to stare. not to say anything or do anything but pierce with her blank look, unsmiling face. it's hard to describe what i felt at that moment. even now as i write it, i realize that it doesn't sound scary. but at the time it filled me with a chill and i haven't been able to shake the ghastly image from my mind. last night was halloween. so i considered that maybe it was a cardboard cutout. so a few strides later i turned back and looked again. she was still frozen in time as it were. nothing would move her.

i don't know if i'll run down that street again. if she is there again, looking out, i swear i'll pee my pants. i guess every runner has to do that sometime. i always thought mine would be under different circumstance.