I think that part of what I like about running is that it can still surprise you. And not necessarily in bad ways, like when running surprised me a few weeks ago and I got heat exhaustion from it. No, running can also surprise you in good ways. This weekend has had a few of those moments and trust me, no one is more surprised than I am about it.
1) I did a 5k on Saturday. Not only did I not die, I didn't run my absolute worst 5k ever, which was kind of what I thought going into it. It was getting somewhat sunny during the run (it started a bit after 8am), so I had to walk because the sun got to me. But for the most part, I did okay.
2) I finished third in my age group. From this statement, you can probably deduce how many people were in my age group (answer: 3). And had it not been my birthday a couple of weeks ago, I would not have placed third in my age group. Nevertheless, you will have to pry that third-place finish white ribbon from my cold, dead hands as usual.
3) I met an interesting guy who is 75 years old and his goal is to run 1000 races. He is already in the 700s. Talk about impressive. This is one of those happy running surprises that I was telling you about. It's really cool to think that this guy has dedicated himself to running and still finds such enjoyment of it. He did join me in complaining about the weather, though.
4) I realized that I love CrossFit, which I started doing a few weeks ago, only I didn't tell you because it was a secret (I have no idea why I haven't talked about this). Even when CrossFit is really evil and they make you do 100 squats. That for real happened on Friday. I think I will keep it up. I feel stronger and less sluggish when running, so these are positive developments.
5) Tonight, the weather WAS NOT EVIL. No one, I repeat no one, was more surprised about this than I was. It was in the mid-80s, but the humidity was only in the 50% range when I started. And the dew point was under 70...in fact, it was 69. This type of weather is miraculous considering the time of year. I managed to almost run all of my 8 miles tonight. Not quite, because I got too excited and ran too fast at one point, and also it was getting more humid by the end of the run. But it was possibly the most pleasant surprise of all.
Okay, here is hoping that this good running momentum continues. I doubt that it will, particularly because I doubt that this more reasonable weather is sticking around for long. But I will enjoy it while it lasts and be glad that running can still provide happy surprises.
No comments:
Post a Comment