Run and Smile

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

My day started out rough today.

I was angrily shouted at by a guy on a crowded train this morning.  When another man intervened, the two almost came to blows right there on the T.  I was shocked.  Then, as I got out onto the street a few blocks from my workplace, I witnessed a woman angrily yelling at a construction worker who seemed stunned by the situation and was sheepishly trying to get away.  Her friends were able to get her away.  Still reeling from my encounter on the train only a few minutes earlier, I thought to myself (and probably out loud).  WHAT IS HAPPENING?

I hadn't even made it into work and everybody is going nuts.  Everybody's angry.  Everybody's on edge.  Everybody is flipping out...at strangers...on the street!  Is it a byproduct of the crazy racist events of this week?  People are having a meltdown!

It was a chore to focus once I finally made it to work.  I mulled over the crazy events of the morning and I craved a quiet space for my evening run.  Today I was scheduled to do a run-commute (about 6.5 miles) and was planning to do the same old, same old.  After this morning, however, it was hard for me to want to run through crowded Back Bay, Mass Ave, and Kendall Square.  People are nuts today and I didn't want to be around them.



I was tempted to retreat to the forest again, where I would only be bothered by a mountain-biker or two, maybe a scurrying chipmunk, and the one thousand-some-odd gnats floating around below the trees.

I was tempted but made a different plan.  Instead, I decided to stick with the city run but to explore streets just off of my normal commute-- neighborhood streets where I would see real people; tired people in need of a smile.  And, I resolved to smile at them-- any of them who looked me in the eye.  I was in a bad mood but this is what i needed to do; run and use the joy I feel that God has given me (regardless of circumstance) to bring joy to others.  So I ran and smiled and said hello.  And people smiled back and said hello.  It was hot today and the sweat was burning my eyes but the angriness of the morning felt far away.  I extend my run to 10 miles.

Harriet Tubman memorial (South End Boston).


You cannot love God and hate people.

A Quiet Wog Through the Forest

Saturday, August 5, 2017

My current mood.



Here I am, a moss covered bolder making myself comfortable in the middle of the trail.  I have no place to go, nowhere to be-- just enjoying my current chill in the quiet of the forest.

This run took some patience but I had nothing else do to this afternoon so I stuck it out.  I got to the trails just as a downpour started.  I decided to wait it out in my car and ended up napping for 45 min while it rained and rained and rained.  I woke up, ate half the peanut butter and honey sandwich I packed for the run, and waited another 20 min for the showers to pass before heading out unto the trail.  It had been four weeks since I last ran on trails and with the slick footing I took this really slow (a walk/jog pace or a "wog" as my buddy E-Rob calls it).

Even though the rain delayed things, I'm glad I got out there when I did.  I really needed a quiet space today.  The rain virtually made it so that only true nature lovers or those training for ultra marathons were out on the trails.  I saw 3 runners and a bunch of folks at Sheepfold (because there are always a bunch of folks at Sheepfold).  It was nice.  And, after-the-rain leaves everything so green!  In addition to 3's company, I saw a little garter snake which was moving slowly down the trail but too fast for me to get my phone out and take a picture (I doubled up on zip-lock bags today.  My phone is still recovering from the deluge of two Tuesdays ago), the fluffiest squirrel I ever did see, and about 2,000 gnats.  I was swatting and swatting and swatting-- really working my arms as much as my legs on this one.  K ridiculo.

My running calendar called for a cutback week this week and I decided to run no more than 30 miles total.  This would keep me with my personal goal of not running less than 30 miles per week during this training and is a 12 mile step back from what I did last week.  I ended up running 8 for 32 miles.  Things are going really well so far.  I'm behind but managing to get out there and keep training.  Two more months!