Why I Am

Sometimes change is good. I ran a different route this morning for my 3 miles, which has become a nice standard twice during the week. I also listened to the new Dave Matthews CD while I ran, which is a change from my usual Preston & Steve radio show routine. What a difference it made! I was sluggish on Tuesday morning when I did the same distance. This run was really enjoyable and reminded me why I love running. I didn't think about time, I drank in my surroundings, and I must admit, I bopped a little, to my new favorite song, "Why I Am."

I'm also reading this great book called Once a Runner by John L. Parker, Jr. It is about a collegiate track runner, so it has nothing to do with my type of running at all. However, it's a cool read and makes me feel really laid back about my own workout routines. Then this morning, I read this lovely piece of prose about running at night, which I might have to try soon:

"A passerby might have thought him in a trance, but he missed nothing in his darkling backdrop: the smells of winterblooming flowers, clean coolness of blackjack oak, damp pepper of Spanish moss. The sounds were of early-evening TV silliness, dinner, children's squabble. He was a shaded meteor plumbing a twinkling universe. The night made even more acute the runner's senses, lent more poignancy to his aloneness, made his fast pace seem even faster, generated an urgency, a subdued excitement in the act of solitary motion."

I know exactly how that feels.

I've decided to start training for the Philadelphia Distance Run on September 20. It's a half-marathon and one I've done twice before. It was my first TNT event, and I love the course. Plus I have tickets for Dave Matthews that night, and 8 days later we leave for Florida. Nine days later, I turn 30, but we'll ignore that.

The training starts in 2 weeks. I'm excited! Plus, I might have my bro-in-law with me on the run. He expressed interest, so naturally I'm pestering his twin, my hubby, to join us.

It was a good morning :)