Keep Running, Cindy!

I had it in my head that Wednesday’s run was going to be a good run and I was going to blog about it. I thought how my last couple of running posts had been about difficult runs and I felt a little uncomfortable with that. Of course, it’s a good thing to persevere through a difficult run and to write about it; the one thing helps the other, without a doubt. But I don’t want to give the impression that all my runs are difficult runs. If all I’m doing is persevering, I think it’s time to find a new hobby slash workout (I really felt the need to write the word “slash” and not use a “/”).

It helped that the weather cooperated. Warmer, not humid, nice. Shorts and short sleeves were definitely the way to go. I felt pretty OK as soon as I started out.

I wanted to run the hill by Valley Health Services. That necessitated crossing German Street, not always easy with four o’clock traffic. I managed it at the three-way stop at Caroline Street, waving “thank you” to the cars that didn’t run me over. The hill is what I would call respectable. Not as challenging as the hill to Herkimer County Community College, but not negligible. Respectable.

I shuffled up it, thinking how my previous method (and I’m not the only one to use it) was to sprint up hills. My reasoning was, get up it as quickly as possible, so the difficulty only lasted a short time. It was not a good method. Slow and steady wins the race (is that a cliche? Should I have added “as they say” or some other self-deprecating, post-ironic phrase?).

On my way down, on the other side of the building, I saw a lady walking away carrying a large umbrella.

“Didn’t need the umbrella after all,” I called.

“No, it’s beautiful,” she said.

“Oh, it sure is!”

There were still clouds, but as I rounded the corner some sunlight broke through and lit up some forsythia bushes. I love forsythia. It’s beautiful and fun to say. Now the sun was behind me with dark clouds in front of me. I admired the effect. I checked out my shadow on the sidewalk. Still lumpy. Keep running, Cindy.

My run seemed to be taking a long time. I felt that I was running very slowly. That’s all right; you mostly have to run slow on the Boilermaker. With 14,000 runners, I don’t see things thinning out much as we go. I started thinking about the Boilermaker and how I’d wave to people cheering the runners on. I can say silly things like, “My fans, how they adore me.” I mentally calculated how many weeks till the Boilermaker and how long I would be running if I added 10% each week, as recommended by those guys at the Sneaker Store. As long as I’m up to an hour I’ll feel comfortable. If you can run one hour, you can run two. You just don’t stop.

I did not need to put on a sweatshirt for my cool down walk with Tabby. I felt happy about my run and even happier when I thought about running this weekend NOT after a 10 hour workday. So you see, not all my runs are difficult or un-fun. And I bet they’ll get even better. See you at the Boilermaker!