I was catching my breath between intervals when a ghost from my past drove up on his bicycle. The last time we’d encountered each other on the trail I hadn’t recognized him – even after he told me his name. I remain embarrassed, after all of these years past, that I did not know the boy that I spent most of my high school years dating.
I was stretching after completing the first of three 2-mile intervals. I did a self-check to assess if it was safe to venture further from my van, as I’ve been feeling under the weather since yesterday. I confirmed that I was not feeling dizzy, and the tightness in my throat had eased up. I felt a bit vulnerable having forgotten to grab my cell phone but, seriously, who would I call if I got into trouble. It’s not like my husband could leave heaven to rescue me.
The fact was, I was feeling okay at the moment. I was, in fact, elated at my having nailed the interval pace perfectly. I was tired, but encouraged as well. It wasn’t that long ago when I felt that I’d never be able to hit the paces that Coach was asking of me.
In a matter of minutes, my old friend and I caught up on our lives (children, employment status, and my grieving). When he told me that I appeared to being doing okay, I mentioned that my running kept me sane. His commenting that my running had always fulfilled that need was a big “hello” for me ~ he’d managed to recognize me even though I had failed to know him.
Before long, we were both back on the trail. He rode on ahead, and I did my best to keep my required pace even after cooling down.
It was up to me to gauge my progress as Garminia has a habit of missing the mark on her mile measurements, thus pace, on the trail that I was at. I did my best to push hard enough to hit the target pace but not so hard that I would die off before the 2 miles was traveled.
I was pleased with the outcome. Not only did I hit the pace on the second 2-mile interval, but I surpassed it on the final one. Then I drove home, showered, logged my workout, and returned to bed. I was not feeling so good anymore.