Centered

Hi Brendan,

 It looks like the weekend running in the Maine hills did me well. I had a nice run this morning. I usually begin a little sluggish on these early runs but today I felt vigor from the start. It’s interesting how a change in your perspective can make the normal seem different. I thought my course through the streets of Raynham was a decent route. There are some hills in the second half of my runs which I thought were great for training. Now those hills look like little bumps in the road.

I ran the White St “Moonlit” Run that I wrote about in My Morning Run. Today had the same feel. The clear sky along with the moon and the reflecting snow gave me plenty of light to run. As I turned on to Center St, a very bright Venus lead the way as it centered itself with the yellow lines on the road. The streets seemed empty like I had them to myself. The consistent grade and oddly missing ice under my feet let me extend my gate. Thoughts of work and family, fundraising and the marathon, you and Dana-Farber bounced in and out of my head. What felt like a blink of an eye, I was at my water stop. I decided to just run by because I didn’t want to stop. Reaching into my pocket, I grabbed my water bottle and laughed as I tried to drink the almost completely frozen grape powerade. By the time I got to King Philip’s Bump, the sun had already risen. I looked at my reflective vest as its broken straps flapped against my running jacket. I said to myself I can’t wait until I don’t need both for my early runs anymore as I noted spring will soon be here. When I entered the neighborhood, I looked at my Garmin for the first time. I was happy to see my results but distance and time didn’t define my run. It was all about what happened between the start and the finish.  I was centered again.

Hope everything is well will you. I will give you a call this afternoon to check in. Take care.

-Patrick

RM: 9.75 (White St “Moonlit” Run)
WM: 40.0
TM:  233.35