the joy of running

With one week ’till I toe the line for my 2nd marathon in < 2 weeks, I slipped out for a 5 mile trail run. It wasn’t more than a 1/4 mile into the run when I experienced an overwhelming urge to scream. I huffed and puffed as I climbed the 1st hill, which occurred prior to my body fully warming up. I was quickly distracted from my breathlessness  as I glanced all around at the beauty.

I would judge this, and the many hills that followed, as bigger than the biggest of the famed hills of Newton but smaller than the hills I’ve yet to tackle on the Big Sur course. Although their arrival caused me to increase my rate of breathing, my body did not seem alarmed in Boston or today. It knew what to do and did it time and time again. And I could not be more pleased.

Throughout today’s run, I scanned my body for cries for help, but only heard yelps of joy. After all of the challenges with illness and injury in this past training season, I cannot find the words to express how thrilled I am with how strong my body felt while running the Boston Marathon. Moreover, I am beyond speechless in describing how amazed and pleased I am with the way it has recovered.

I can only guess that I must be doing something right. Whatever that something is, I must keep on doing it so that I can continue to do this awesome thing called running. Oh, the joy of running. I LOVE it!