More drowned rat look.

Yesterday was crazy.  The first day of school is Monday and it's wild and crazy up at the school.  I worked non stop all day and then had to have a few drinks with a friend to chill out.  I woke up this morning and contemplated quitting running. Ha.....  But I did let myself sleep in a bit.  Then I checked the radar.

It wasn't looking so good.  I thought about running the neighborhood but that sounded so boring and painful. I packed my stuff and headed to the river.

There were a few other crazy people out, so I put my gear on and got out of the car and on my way.  It was raining softly but steadily; more concerning was the intermittent lightning and thunder.  I tried to ignore it.  I rationalized that it was a purplish-pink lightning rather than the whitish-blue type--pink lightning is softer and hurts less, right?  I passed a cyclist and had this crazy thought that I should ask, are we safe out here?

Then I realized how crazy that sounded.  I'm running outside on a trail with lightning around me.  How safe can I be?  I know your chances of getting struck by lightning are pretty slim--how much does the chance go up in a storm?  Not a big storm.  The rain was soft.  Like the lightning.

I turned around and went back toward the bridge, figuring I could either quit and go home and get the miles later or keep on if it seemed to get better.  It did get better.  There was more lightning and thunder from time to time. but it lessened and I felt less crazy.

In the wide open area of Two Rivers Park I saw deer off in the distance.  They were far away but started to run as I passed them, and I counted 8 spread out against the tree line.

So my 12 miles in the storm went fine.  It was cool and sweet outside.

Deer, bald eagles, and liberals.

I had a plan for getting up this morning: set the alarm for 5, snooze once; when it went off again, turn on the light and start petting Max; Max would see that I didn't go back to sleep.

I was semi-successful.  I left the house around 6 and got to the river and started running by about 6:20.  I looked over my shoulder to see the pink sky as the sun rose behind me.

As usual when I get an early start, I went south on the other side of the bridge and ran past Murray Park and the golf course, through Rebsamen Park, and back.  I watched the sun rise higher, a shimmering large orange ball just over the horizon.  I watched some deer at the treeline; they looked calmly back towards the trail.

Back at the bridge at around 9 miles, I headed north towards Two Rivers. I thought at about that time that things had been pretty slow so far, kind of dull, and then I looked up just ahead of me in time to see a bald eagle flying low, maybe two stories up, directly above the trail.  I could see his white head and his beak.  So cool!

I thought a lot about the school year starting and what I need to do to get ready.  I thought about the upcoming election--nothing new to say about that, really.  Except for one thing.  A really great person that I taught a few years ago, Rachael, was discussing being liberal vs. conservative on facebook.  Rachael is an extremely awesome straight ally to the gay community, someone I am very proud to have taught.  She explained, in response to a question on facebook, that she considers herself to be a socially private conservative because of some decisions that she has made for herself--but that she doesn't think those decisions need to be forced on other people, so she identifies as a social liberal.

But isn't that the point of being socially liberal--that regardless of your own decisions, you don't think they need to be forced onto other people?  Why is it that assumptions are made about a person's behavior if they identify as socially liberal?  Why is it so hard for people to make whatever decisions they want about their own lives without wanting or needing to make those decisions for other people?  Why should Rachael have to make that distinction?  Being liberal is not about what I do or what you do--it's about making decisions for yourself based on what is best for you and being comfortable enough in those decisions to not need to make them for other people.

Last election I really let some of these issues get to me on a personal level. I know that in some ways I shouldn't, but it did.  I hope to maintain some distance this time.

So about distance--because this was about a run---I covered 20 miles this morning with very little difficulty. The weather was perfect.  There was a breeze blowing off and on and in Two Rivers Park, and there were wisps, drafts of air.  Off and on a cooler one, like a fridge had been opened in the underbrush, would flow across the trail.  It felt delicious.  I had thought about doing 22 miles, but my timing and route were good for 20--that, and the end of that 20 happened just after the uphill on the new approach on the Big Dam Bridge.  I stopped in the middle of the bridge and took my time coming down.

It was this time last year that I was preparing for my first marathon and went for the 20 miler and had to stop with a knee problem.  I'm thankful for no problems today and  hope to go on into Tupelo feeling good and strong and confident.

I'm not running today....but I am.

At 6:15 this morning I hit snooze.

At 6:30 I decided I was not running today and I turned the alarm off.  I ran 5, 8, and 5 this week, I run 20 on Sunday, and I don't need to run today.  I'm tired.  I don't need this 5 miles.

At 7:45, finally awake, I got up, got dressed, and hit the road.  I figured I would pay for the late start by being cooked out on the road at 8:00, but I was wrong.  The first mile or so was bad because of my tight calf problem, but the weather was surprisingly nice.  It wasn't muggy, and there was a fresh-smelling breeze.

I couldn't talk myself into taking the left into Stonewall to make the 5 mile loop, and I considered just cutting the run to 3  miles.  After all, I nearly skipped it--3 is better than nothing, right?  But instead, I finished out the 3 mile loop and then repeated part of it.  The breeze kept up and there was still shade and it was nice.  The leaves on the ground are a reminder of the drought, but they also remind me of fall, which seems both near and far.

In the last mile or so, I thought about how I felt at 6:30 and how badly I did not want to run, and how evenly matched that feeling was by the gladness that I did.  Letting myself have that extra hour of sleep wasn't bad, though.  I'm sitting here now feeling pretty good.

Clear sight.

Sunday I did my "short" long run of 12 miles and it was not great.  Compared to the 20 miler from the week before...it seems like a different person ran it.  Whatever, though, it's in the past.

I woke up this morning yet again with thoughts of forgetting it all.  Sleep and laziness sounded nice.  But you know me.  I got up and, eventually, out.

It was a decent morning for running even though the high today is 102.  The humidity is low-ish for August in Arkansas and there was a bit of a breeze blowing.  I don't remember my calves feeling like they were filling up with concrete, which is great because that's how it's been for weeks.  I was a little tired but overall pretty good.

I was in Sherwood this morning so I ran out of the neighborhood and onto Kiehl.  Down the hill on Kiehl and left onto 107: at this point I was at about 3.5 miles and planning to turn around at 4.  The next half mile would be uphill.

As I made the slow turn and started up the incline, I looked up at the ridge and the dying grasses and something was beautiful about it and I felt the need to pray.  I held that thought in my mind as I looked up at the sight, trying to put into words what my heart was seeing.  The trees were crisply set against the blue morning sky, the sun falling across the ridge with "a certain slant of light," a gentle morning slant.  The grasses sloped down towards me and I realized what I was praying for: clear sight.

I pushed up the hill and also up the hill heading towards home.  I spent a delightful minute in some misty sprinklers.  I finished.  But I have that ridge with me still.