Runners Love Crappy Weather

The sky was overcast, grey, and what most people would call dismal. It was sprinkling rain off and on all morning, and there was a chill breeze. With that much humidity, you could practically drink the air.

I got to the track for a speed workout. Lane 1 had a few puddles. Not a big deal, considering lanes 1-4 are reserved for FSU's track team anyway.

As I set my things down and got my stopwatch ready, a guy walked onto the track. You know the type: shirtless, young, and muscled. Clearly an athlete, a gym rat, or both, but not a runner. He gave an exasperated look, made some comment about the weather, and left!

But I stayed. I'd driven all the way out to the track, someone else was watching the kids, and I only have so much time per week to do what I want.

By the time I finished my warm-up the drizzle felt pretty good. It wasn't even enough to soak my clothes. The wind was refreshing and felt especially nice on my back. I would rank today as one of the top 5 best runs of my life. And this guy went home.

Sometimes Ivy gets thrown into crappy situations. What does she do? Well, she doesn't smile happily and make lemonade and all that stuff. (Does anybody REALLY do that?) She takes that crappy situation and knees it in the groin. She fights back and she enjoys it. Ivy doesn't always make the smartest decisions, but the thing I love about her is her tenacity. And that she makes me laugh in the middle of horrible situations.
So here's to crappy conditions. May you knee the next one right where it counts.

Breaking into a Secret Place

I love running. I've never run a 5k in under 30 minutes and I've never run a marathon, but I have hopes of someday reaching those milestones.

The running community is a close one. We're supportive and can celebrate acheivements at any level. (Kind of like the writing community.) But what is it that unites us? It's not that we've all hit the wall while running a marathon. It's not that we're all super-elite athletes.

Is it that we simply share an interest? Would we be equally supportive if we all loved cross stitch samplers or followed weather patterns? I know there are communities of people that do love these things, and I'm not knocking them, but any runner would have to agree that it's more than a hobby we share.

My theory is that we've broken into a secret place. We're the ones that figured out the combination to the lock and now we're enjoying the spoils. And while we can tell others how wonderful running is (no, really!) and we can give them the combination to that lock, until they want it enough, they'll never open it.

I share a lot about my writing endeavors on this blog. Writing has its own secret place, its own supportive community. I consider myself very fortunate to have two secret places.

Running Helps Me Write

I run for fun. (Queue the Back to the Future quotes if you like.) Some people think it's crazy, and six years ago I would have agreed with them. But once I started running regularly, I started seeing the benefits:
clear mind, energy, alertness, general strength and stamina (kinda sounds like Specials by Scott Westerfeld)
and running helps to clear out all the funk and cobwebs that gather when I'm trying to write.

During my run, my mind is especially clear. I can focus on anything. Today I wanted to think about the story I'm working on. I played through the last chapter as my feet kept a steady rhythm below. And the characters came alive. It was magic, I tell you. Pure magic.

And as I was crafting characters and situations in my head, I passed by a house with the door wide open. This house had its front door open the last time I ran past it. (It wasn't an accident because I saw someone walking in the driveway.) As I was thinking about why someone would leave their door open, a smell caught me off guard. I think it was coming from inside the house. I was breathing hard, so I inhaled a lot of the scent and my first thought was: clean. Like the dentist's. It was the perfect scent to put into my scene and I was trying to come up with the right words to describe it and it hit me: licorice. Licorice and mint. And maybe fluoride or something.

So that's why I run, folks. Clear head during the run lets me brainstorm, clear head after the run lets me focus when it's time to actually write, and scenery feeds me material. Like I said: Magic.