Since I wanted to take it easy for my first “run”, I decided to only do 2 miles, and only run what I felt like running. It turned out to be about 3 minutes (max) total of running out of about 30 minutes total. Somewhat discouraging, but more than I did yesterday! I know after the next couple of weeks the ratio of walk-to-run will be much better, just glad I got out and officially started.
Geaux Team!!
It’s Monday and I chose to run today, so I brought Mason to swim and started getting my stuff together to run. I realized that my iPod was dead. It became a run with no music.
My run turned out to be very good because I only stopped once in 4.5 miles to drink gator aid. Running without music forced me to hear the sounds of life. At one point it was traffic zooming by on Bluebonnet. The sound of a car horn now and then. Another part on my run was the sound of birds chirpping and the rustle of squirrels in the trees. Now that is what I enjoyed hearing. The slower tempo that God really intended for our lives to be. Not the hurrieness that we make it.
Speaking of tempos my life’s tempo has changed over the last three weeks. I am no longer working for many reasons. One my kids and all of thier activities. I thought it was going to be a summer where I would get to catch up on things at home. Instead I find that I spend most of my time in the car. It is a drop off, pick up scenario that happens 5 times a day all day long. ie. 7 am Mason swim, 11 am pick up Lara, 2 pm drop Lara off at work, 5:30 bring Mason to swim, 9 pm pick Lara up form work. I am done for the day. Then it starts all over again the next. This will ease up in mid July when Lara gets her license. But until then it is a tempo that I have to get adjusted to.
The one tempo that has remained the same is my running pace. I figure why hurry that part of my life that I can enjoy without a time constraint. As far as the tempo of my life I will just have to follow the beat God provides. I like the birds and squirrels. God is great!
Starting today I get to do all my workouts in the morning when I bring Mason to swim. Today’s run was around Crawfish Aquatics and the old Jimmy Swaggart Complex. My run started out as usual: heavy legs, good music and what route to take.
Ran my first mile on the Crawfish side of Bluebonnet before hitting the hill (overpass of Bluebonnet to Swaggart Complex). I ran past the usual parked 18 wheelers and other vehicles and noticed 3 trucks in a different spot: one white, red and a dark green. I ran past them. Really nothing strange about that. Coming around to head back to the hill and I realized the dark green truck is now parked in a secluded spot away from the others with a man driving. Too late to run somewhere else. I was totally in the open. It sat there as I ran by. I turned the corner only to have it follow me at a slow pace. My first thought was the nearest building with people was two parking lots away.
So how do I handle stalker man? I had only run about 3.5 miles so my legs were not dead. Just good and warmed up, but I know I am not fast. I could throw my full fuel belt bottles at him. How juvenile is that? My only plan was to call 911 on my handy dandy cellular device. Not much of a plan but I could get some words out that my give the authorities clues.
He finally drove past me and went as far as the 18 wheelers and stopped. He then started blowing his horn. Great now I will be out numbered. I kept running with the thought that I was on church property and maybe I would be spared. I reached the other side of the parking lot and here comes stalker man. This time I slowed down and let him go first. No, I was not running faster than he was driving. If that were the case I would be qualifying with Tim for Boston. Stalker man turned left I turned right. Attack avoided and back to my run.
Headed back to the hill. You will never guess who was waiting at mile 4 laughing: Horshack from Welcome Back Kotter. Until I looked around and realized that it was me breathing. Thanks to my allergies my breathing had become his laugh. You know the wheezing laugh. I had to walk a bit to get rid of it. I ran another lap and hit the hill again then back to the car with Horshack on my back. I was glad no one was around because they would have thought I was dying.
Five miles of running, avoided stalker man, had my moments of impersonation of Horshack and glad I was done. It is amazing what can happen in less than an hour.
