Knatty Boh

AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME Ten-mile run this evening. I had originally wanted to run this morning to beat the heat and start the day off on a good note, but I stayed up late watching Running the Sahara. What an inspiring movie. 4400 miles in the Sahara desert, 3 runners, a support crew, and a fantastic cause: H20Africa, an organization that helps provide clean water to the residents of African countries. My favorite part of the movie was at the end, when one of the runners talked about how the entire journey taught him that mileage goals are all mental; if you think you will only run 5k, you will only run 5k.
   I tried to apply this philosophy to my run tonight. I haven't done a run longer than 7 miles in a month, and I have a half-marathon in a mere three weeks. This has been causing me some major stress- I want to do well in the race and enjoy myself, but I have also been having trouble convincing myself that I can do the LSD runs. Today, though, I set out with an easy pace, a good set of tunes, and headed to one of my favorite places to run: my high school and its surrounding area. I love running through all the neighborhoods I grew up in and thinking back on all the memories of my childhood. It made for a very peaceful, relaxed run, probably the most relaxed run I have had in some time.
    I had told myself I would stop at mile 9, since this a. got me to 30 miles a week and b. it was the most I could do without running out of water. When I hit 9 miles, though, I was on a trail right behind my high school that lead to the soccer fields, and nothing seemed a more perfect end to a run than a mile more on the lush, green grass I used to jog around in my field hockey days. With 10 miles done, without fuel, in the humidity, I feel back in the running groove. And (until I showered), completely covered in knats.