Day 1 (part 1)

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”

~ Winston Churchill










I have always known that I was able to run. And I don't just mean go for a run, but really run.

Without training I could run a very difficult 12k in Spokane when I was 8-- faster than most adults can. I didn't run cross country or track. In fact, I was quite out of shape and had difficulty during conditioning drills while on the high school tennis team. I was a band geek, through and through.

But I could still run when I decided to.

Then, in college, at the end of my first year, my triathlon career started. I started running with very good runners, a lot like me. A few of them showed me what it looked and felt like to really, really run far and hard. But, again, I feel there is always room for more.

So this summer, after 2 Ironmans, 8 marathons, around 90 triathlons between sprint and half-iron distance, and a handful of 5ks, 10k, 12k and half-marathons, I read the book "Born to Run". It did not really change everything for me, however it did shed some light on things I instinctually knew--things that, perchance, contributed to my natural running ability. More importantly, it lit a fire in me to run again. To really, really run.

So I came up with this incredibly stupid idea.

I decided I wanted to run to and from work every day for 5 days. 13 miles almost exactly each way, or 26 miles per day. Rain or shine, no matter what, I was doing it on my two footses. I festered on it quite a while before I finally said it out loud to someone one day. I don't remember to whom it was said, but once I heard myself say it out loud, that was it. I was set. It was just a matter of finishing the triathlon season so that I didn't interfere with my sponsored activities.

This week became the week.

Now, let me describe to you how NOT to prepare for this event.

Do not tailgate at a home NFL opener the day before. This requires you to stay up much too late getting food and paraphernalia ready the 2 days before, and reduces sleep time. In addition, to get a spot, you have to be down at the prime tailgating locations early (especially for opening day) which requires waking up at 6ish. Tailgating means eating a lot of greasy (albeit delicious) food, drinking many beers, and standing around yelling like an idiot in a stadium full of like-minded idiots for 3-4 hours. Following this event, it is not a good idea to go to an AWESOME outdoor concert until 10 PM having more beer. This will result in staying up until midnight putting away both the tailgating and concert necessities, utensils, bbqs, canopies, etc. And then, after all that, you have to drive to the location to which you will be running in order to have food and clothing and everything there, because you DO NOT want to run with a laptop, lunch and clothes for 13 miles.

I got to sleep at 1 AM this morning.

My goal was simply to have a good run. I didn't want to run fast, I just wanted to enjoy it and be steady. After all, I have to do this 9 more times. In the back of my mind I thought 2:10 would be a perfect time to shoot for. That is super slow for me, but that way I would not feel the urge to rush.

I would be doing something I have never, ever done--running with a pack. I need to take some underwear with me, and keys and proxy cards and some hammer-gel, so I just figured I may as well use the Camelback Hydration pack and tuck it all in. I wore arm-warmers so that when I got too warm I could easily remove them and stow them. I wore a my Ragnar relay shirt because it has good magic. I wore two blinky lights, my heart rate monitor/watch, and running shorts. I felt like a pack mule.

The alarm was shockingly early at 4:40 AM. Needless to say, as a result of Sunday's festivities, the first 4 to 5 miles were a little tenuous, but I made it. The air was calm; it was a warm and humid morning. The arm warmers lasted until mile 4. The blinky light arm band lasted until mile 5. It was becoming clear which items were more annoying than useful.

The water on Lake Washington was remarkably still--a very rare sight these days. The sun began to rise over the hills in the east, and the orange glow reflected off of the still lake, freckled by seagulls and other water birds. I stopped several times to just look at it and remember that I have a good life; one that allows me to run to work along such a beautiful lake.

And the most shocking thing--it was completely silent. It was...I would be lying if I said I didn't tear-up standing there. I haven't experienced a peaceful moment in Seattle even close to being similar to those quiet evenings and mornings at Priest Lake, but this was it. Maybe it was meant to be, here, during my first long run of many.

A miraculous thing always happens to me at mile 8 of a run. I start to loosen up, everything starts working better, and my mind kind of comes back around to the idea of enjoying running again. Sometimes this feeling lasts for another hour, sometimes one more mile. This morning, it carried me all the way in, the last 5 miles.

I was pretty sweaty when I got here-- I wore a hat which I think is a big mistake. I have never really run this far TO WORK, so I am going to learn real quick which peripherals are going to become irritants and which are worthwhile. In any event, I have to do this again in 8 hours, the opposite way.

Until then, here is to a VERY QUICK recovery!!

--AM

Oh, for those keeping track, I ended up running the 13 miles in 1:57 this morning. And thats WITH my multitude of stops. Definitely need to slow down or I WILL BE slowed down, like it or not!