Thoughts on the Road

Last week, I had another good set of training sessions and have already managed to get in my long runs for this week. I'm out of state visiting Family and both long runs were done on a lonely highway shoulder that was straight as an arrow.  It is the first time I've ran a lot of road miles in a few years. This gave me ample time to think about a lot of things while on the easy paced run, as well as, completely zone out, since I wasn't on a technical trail where you have to pay attention most of the time. The only thing I had to be cautious of were the people driving cars and trucks whom I'm certain weren't used to seeing someone out running in the pre-dawn hours on the side of a highway, especially on Christmas morning at 4am.  There is something completely calming and comforting about being out on a lonely road running in the dark, early morning hours.  After each of these runs, the one overwhelming feeling I had was one of being proud of myself for getting out of a warm bed to go out in 20 degree weather and run.  During the final mile of each run, I was smiling ear-to-ear, mainly, because each run has been a personal victory for me and something I haven't felt in a very long time.  It's still tough getting out the door and this has led to having a different perspective on my training right now when just finishing a workout is considered a huge accomplishment.  Although, I am training for a race, it's the farthest thing from my mind, mainly, because I don't have any high expectations other than just finishing. I do have a time goal, but it is far from agressive.  In the past, I've had a habit of setting aggressive goals and falling short of them.  Basically, when I recognize the time goal slipping away during a race, which was unrealistic, in most cases, to begin with, I tend to ease of the pace, or quit.  And, that is why I have set a conservative goal for February. The interesting thing is by having a different attitude and expectation of my training, it is allowing me to enjoy my running much more that I thought was possible.  Sometimes, I wonder if some of my past success in running had more to do with life circumstances and the strong need to use it to cope with whatever challenges I was dealing with in life. It was a meditative activity of sorts, but it was something I was using to validate myself as a person.  I do enjoy running, especially on the trails, but it more about being outside in nature because I believe that is in my genetic code, especially if it's in a mountainous location.  I live where I live in Austin because it's where the hills are and while they aren't mountains, it's the closest I can get to them in this chapter of my life.

And, those are just a few of the thoughts from the past few days while I've been running down the lonely road in the cold, dark mornings...