Colors of Fall

Today was a beautiful early fall day, with the sun shining brightly and a cool breeze blowing.  I ran along the C&O canal, which runs along the Maryland side of the Potomac River.  I wish I had taken a picture, but it probably wouldn't have done it justice anyway.

The river was flowing to my right and I saw the occasional canoe and kayak out in the distance.  Closer to shore, geese meandered in and out of the shadows along the bank.  On my left, the canal was crystal clear.  I saw schools of fish scooting back and forth between patches of algae.  The sky was reflected in the water of the canal, giving it a shimmery, ethereal look.  If it hadn't been for the fallen leaves strewn on the ground, I would have guessed it was spring.  It was so colorful - the green of the trees, the yellow of the leaves that had fallen early, the blue of the sky, the brown of the path stretching out ahead of me.

With surroundings like that, I found that my run passed far too quickly.  I'm as shocked as you are.  How is that possible?!?  Who AM I?!?

A Rough One

Today was a rough one.  My run was rough - lungs burning, calves hurting, far more hills than I would have liked, and generally arduous.  Tougher, though, was the mental aspect.  When I run, I either process my thoughts or escape from them (I'm really not sure which yet - I've been thinking about that for a later blog post).  Today, though, I just couldn't get through (or around?) my thoughts durning my run, which was frustrating.  My disappointment, anger, and anxiety over events of the day wouldn't leave me.  Maybe I just needed to run longer, but I don't think my legs - or lungs - could have handled it!

Ah well, there's always the next run, right?

Like a dog...

My friend Beth once said, "I think the feeling of running in the rain must be like what dogs feel when they ride in the car with their heads out the window."  

Indeed.  There's just something about the feeling of the rain hitting my bare arms, my feet splashing through puddles, and the breeze blowing the misty air in my face.  Every once in a while a giant drop splashes right on my nose, surprising me and pulling me out of my reverie.

Of course, my running partner (my dog) and I come home soaked and track rain and mud all through the house.  Eh - minor details, right?

A Series of Mundane Steps

What to write?  What to write?  What to write?  The words kept running through my mind in a steady cadence with my feet.  I was getting stressed because nothing was coming to me.  Well, all sorts of things were coming to me - but nothing I considered "blog-worthy."  Nothing insightful.  Nothing clever or catchy.

Maybe that's what life's like.  It's made up of a series of mundane moments, most of which don't have any real "weight" to them.  You can't force a moment to be meaningful beyond what it is.  It just is.

That's what I like about running.  You put one foot in front of the other, over and over.  Some steps are hard.  Some are easy.  Some make you cry out in pain.  Some make you cry out in joy.  Some steps are weightless.  Some have profound meaning.  You look back at the end, though, and see what all those individual steps created, and think, "it was worth it."

Go, Jeannine, Go!

When I was a kid, I was on a swim team.  I wasn't very good; I was always in Lane 6 - the "slow lane."  That's not what I remember most about swim team, though.  I remember my dad's enthusiasm at swim meets.  By enthusiasm, I mean ENTHUSIASM.  He would walk along the side of the pool while I swam, using his booming voice to cheer, "go, Jeannine, go!" the entire way.  Humiliating, right? 

That was the voice in my head today when I went running - and I loved it.  It spurred me on.  I'm working through the Couch to 5K program again.  I did it last year around this time and ran my first-ever 5K on January 1st, 2012.  After that, I took a few days off.  Which turned into a few weeks.  Which turned into 8.5 months.

So here I am, ready to improve my fitness again.  If it's anything like the last time, it will be more of a mental exercise than a physical one.  My hope is to use this blog to capture my thoughts through the experience - some related to running and some related to my life in general.

PS - I'm terrified of blogging.  What was I thinking, starting a blog?