Temptations

Paula Radcliff is on the cover of Runner's World for this month, and deservedly so, showing off the incredible accomplishment of what I think is the world's greatest, gutsiest female runner. She smiles at me with that wide easy grin that says, sure you can do it. Women are supposedly better long-distance runners than men over-all. Our evolutionary ability to endure pain and tolerate hormonal fluctuations, and in many indigenous cultures, handle the daily work, means core strength. Men may have the speed, the spurt. But look at Paula; she's one fluid motion coming at you, and whispering past before you know it.

So after my week of relative rest, with some short runs, I made my debut out for a first longish loop yesterday, somewhere around 9+? To 64th up to Stirling and back.
With all the overpasses, including this one at 95. My hip is still bothering me, and wearing the Mizunos, trying to keep my feet level, the last miles were tough. Today I went to the park for a few loops around and some hills. I feel like I'm starting over, with no energy or endurance; my legs are disconnected from the rest of my body and I have to concentrate on my feet. A1A in Ft. Lauderdale is the 17th, and it's sooo very tempting to do that half. But it is also so very close. I have been eating like a longshoreman, and need to get back to reality with food. I am no longer training for a marathon or recovering from one. If I even consider the half, I can still afford to cut back to 'normal' eating which means stop considering baked goods as part of my 'necessary' intake.

Temptations are everywhere. We live in a mass saturated culture, with too much of everything except peace. I see more and more each time I go out that I run for peace. Not just to support it, but to have it. There is no where, even in my apartment, where I can successfully shut out the world's noise and chaos. But out on the road, particularly if its early enough, the physical space melts into wonder and energy, and takes me with it into my stride....and then the peace is everywhere, and I am a part of it. We swing into the wide road with all the room in the world. And for a while, there is nothing between me and my good soul.