View from a long run and thanks to a far away friend

I went out thinking I’d do an average 4 miles or so.

Sometimes, a run is just too good to quit on. For me, it’s always a combination of the rhythm of my feet, the rhythm of my breathing and the rhythm of whatever music is pumping out of my IPOD.

I’ve tried to follow all the ‘experts’ advice, slower music for longs runs, a mix of slow and fast beat music for interval runs, fast music for tempo runs.
As is my custom, I ignore the experts.
When I run, the music playing has to be, aggressive, loud, and preferably bass-laden. That’s just how I run. My ex used to say the music I listened to was “crunchy” that’s as good a description as any.

I like this trail more than any I’ve run on in my 3 years running. It’s pretty isolated, very few houses, a golf course, a goat farm, one overpass, and a golf-cart graveyard are all you’ll get for man-made structure. The rest is trees and water and Carolina blue sky. It’s a well used trail; people on horses, people walking their dogs, cyclists, and of course other runners.

For the firs time in I can’t remember how long I lost track of the mile markers, and when the opportunity presented it self, I took a left turn off the trail, and ran down a little country road. When I decided to turn back, I still wasn’t ready to quit, so I took the left back onto the trail, still moving away from my truck.

This was as sister-Mandy calls it an ‘empty the trash of my mind and put that shit on the curb’ run. Running is my therapy, my church. It reminds me of what I am capable of all on my own. It reminds me that there are always options. It reminds me of exactly what I can control; which maybe isn’t much, but pace, direction, and effort aren’t exactly nothing either, in running or in life.

Thanks Doc, for the reminder.