Goodbye, 2011.

I sent out 2011 with a 15 mile run on the river trail.  It was a beautiful sunny day, warm, and lots of people were out.  In Two Rivers Park, especially, the people were thick--mostly walkers and families.  I didn't mind weaving through them, though.  I love to see all those people out.

Long runs are like vacations.  When they start, you have all of that out in front of you.  It seems like it will last a long time.  Bit by bit you get through it, a day or a half-hour at a time, and eventually you look back at the beginning and it seems like it started ages ago.  That was true for yesterday.

I was nervous about getting back up that high in miles, wondering how my knee would hold out, but I was excited for the nice weather.  I loosened up and the run was uneventful.  The slant of sunlight in the winter is so much different than in summer.  Running along between the big dam bridge and two rivers bridge, the sun was already throwing deep shadows over the trail.  It was cool and felt much later than it really was.  I felt strange and was glad to get back in the light.  The last 6 miles were tough.  It felt like I should be closer to being done and six more miles sounded crazy long.  In the last mile I must have looked at the garmin ten times.  I tried to make myself stop by picking out trees to run to instead.  They make better goals.

I finished the run at the same spot where I finished my first ever 15 miler.  The sun was low in the sky on the other side of the river, and the view was awesome.  I wish I had taken a picture because I can't describe it well.  It seemed like the perfect view to be looking out on at the end of a run on the last day of the year, and Chris Pureka started singing "Burning Bridges" on my playlist.  I stood in the grass and looked out over the river to stretch and think and say my own private goodbye to 2011.