Time stands still

Time stands still when I run. I don’t mean that the hands of time literally stop, but in general, once I start running I don’t think of much at all until I finish. When I first started running my thoughts were on agony. My legs hurt… I can’t breath… I am tired… I will never make it… what excuse can I come up with to stop this nonsense and still feel OK about myself? Now… nothing. If I ever stopped to consider the journey before the first step, I am not sure I could continue. The most I run right now is about an hour… but if I stopped to think about the next 7 miles… could I start?

When I am driving in the car sometimes it occurs to me the shear distance you can cover while running. I know the sidewalks by heart… where each bump is… how long the pedestrian lights take, where the dead animals are on the side of the road. I know the streets that for whatever reason, appear to be up hill both ways.

So far I have never had to run in the rain. I started in summer and well… two plus months later it still really hasn’t rain. I worry how I will hold up in winter. I am dreading the first foggy rainy morning… having to drag myself out of bed to head off into the haze.

Why?

To reach the finish line.

I feel a bit like the little engine who could… chugging up the hill… at first thinking…. ‘I think I can, I think I can, I think I can…’ Someday I hope to know I can. I am sure going to try.