Run to savor
I didn't want to run today. No way. Not in the conditions that greeted me when I took the dogs out.
Greatest Girlfriend Ever, my dogs and I had traveled to Iowa to spend Christmas with her family. I had brought my running clothes along in case I felt like running. My plan called for me to run only three more times this year and, if the weather was pleasant, I hoped to do one of those runs in Iowa.
Well, the weather wasn't so pleasant Monday morning. The winds at the home of GGE's parents was suffocating. I quickly dismissed any consideration of running in those conditions. It wasn't worth it. I didn't need to run. I'm not in training.
Problem is GGE is one of those gotta-run-everyday freaks. No matter the conditions. So when she asked if I was going to run with her -- did I mention she is also one of those runners who only runs alone? -- I was faced with a decision to make.
Go out in miserably windy conditions to run with GGE or stay at home with her parents and get some dirt to be used later on her life's most embarrassing moments?
The former won out. How could I let her go out and run alone when I could run with her? Especially on this all-too-rare occasion when she's welcoming me a running partner? Apparently she finally realizes I don't run too fast for her in the winter.
So we ran. We didn't run near her family's farmland, where the wind was it's worst. Instead, we drove into the nearest small town and ran the much-less-windy residential areas.
It turned out to be a pleasant run, too, mostly because of the company. In nearly two years, I can count on two hands the number of times GGE and I have run together. She enjoys solitary running. She doesn't like to talk when she runs. She fears she might slow me down if we ran together. She likes sometimes to stop and walk for a while, something she knows I refuse to do. She can provide a litany of reasons, it seems, why she won't run with me. Fortunately, I'm not offended by any of them. And I understand all of them.
So the rare opportunity to join her, to move in mostly silent synchronicity with her, made the run special. But my body felt fairly strong, too. I went from thinking I wouldn't run at all to cranking out almost nine solid miles. That's a feat for me at this time of year when any run over four miles qualifies as an event to me.
It was a good run -- one I almost chose to forego. I glad I didn't. This one will be safely tucked away in my memory bank for some time.
Greatest Girlfriend Ever, my dogs and I had traveled to Iowa to spend Christmas with her family. I had brought my running clothes along in case I felt like running. My plan called for me to run only three more times this year and, if the weather was pleasant, I hoped to do one of those runs in Iowa.
Well, the weather wasn't so pleasant Monday morning. The winds at the home of GGE's parents was suffocating. I quickly dismissed any consideration of running in those conditions. It wasn't worth it. I didn't need to run. I'm not in training.
Problem is GGE is one of those gotta-run-everyday freaks. No matter the conditions. So when she asked if I was going to run with her -- did I mention she is also one of those runners who only runs alone? -- I was faced with a decision to make.
Go out in miserably windy conditions to run with GGE or stay at home with her parents and get some dirt to be used later on her life's most embarrassing moments?
The former won out. How could I let her go out and run alone when I could run with her? Especially on this all-too-rare occasion when she's welcoming me a running partner? Apparently she finally realizes I don't run too fast for her in the winter.
So we ran. We didn't run near her family's farmland, where the wind was it's worst. Instead, we drove into the nearest small town and ran the much-less-windy residential areas.
It turned out to be a pleasant run, too, mostly because of the company. In nearly two years, I can count on two hands the number of times GGE and I have run together. She enjoys solitary running. She doesn't like to talk when she runs. She fears she might slow me down if we ran together. She likes sometimes to stop and walk for a while, something she knows I refuse to do. She can provide a litany of reasons, it seems, why she won't run with me. Fortunately, I'm not offended by any of them. And I understand all of them.
So the rare opportunity to join her, to move in mostly silent synchronicity with her, made the run special. But my body felt fairly strong, too. I went from thinking I wouldn't run at all to cranking out almost nine solid miles. That's a feat for me at this time of year when any run over four miles qualifies as an event to me.
It was a good run -- one I almost chose to forego. I glad I didn't. This one will be safely tucked away in my memory bank for some time.
posted by RTG at 2:49 PM
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