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.
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