Day Thirteen: Rain Check?

It's Friday and I'm about to have an intense weekend of cross training - tennis tonight, swimming tomorrow, and then intenSati on Sunday morning. Lord help me! I didn't even pause to consider not running this morning though because yesterday, when I didn't run, I noticed the rest of my day lacked patina; and by bedtime, I will admit to you that I had the strangest kernel of excitement about the promise of putting the shoes back on again today. Weird!

The big question though: would I be able to run straight to the stretching bridge without stopping? Would I have sustained Thursday's progress or have suffered certain setback?

In the elevator down there was a man in running gear. We smiled, nodded. He saw my gloves and cautioned, "It's raining. Indoors today." Nature hater! My English cousins do just about anything in the rain. Outdoors bridge game? No problem. Just pack your cagoule, waterproof trousers and wellies! Carry on! They have taught me something. So, with the fall colors' "raging against the dying of the light," I wasn't into missing a moment of their poetic finale. "I'm going to give it a shot," I said and his face dropped ever so slightly, "but... you never know; I might see you in a few minutes!"

This man, and all the other people I see now in the mornings are members of an underground city I never knew existed. It isn't a social world, where people talk and meet while they're on the course, but there's a strange sense of community nonetheless. I've actually stopped carrying my cell phone with me when I run because it occurred that if I were to take a tumble and need help along the way, many people would pass and someone would help. The challenge of training might be all mine to bear, but I am not entirely alone.

I made it to the stretching bridge without stopping and set a new goal to carry on until a particular tree next time. I can't wait. Then the rest of the run was fairly smooth as well. I had moments of physical pain starting in places where I've been injured in the past, and the shin splints flared for a moment so I switched to running on the grass alongside the path; but overall, I managed OK and can envision a day when I might actually run the Lower Loop without stopping at all. YEAH!

NTS: "I'm missing my shepherd's pie, like a high maintenance chick missing her diamonds."