the gift of sanity

although the race was not as pleasant an experience as i had hoped, maybe i'm not giving myself enough of a break. it is very likely i won't know when my final race will be and i should be grateful of the process- which i hope i am.

following that downer of a 3k, i ran with fireball and the ever gracious mahoney for 17 glorious miles in the hills of huddart county park in the driving rain. in order to minimize the ferocity of the hills, we ran 45 minutes to the top of the park "backwards" with more gradual grades. this seems to us gradual because the code of silence was not enforced as it is with the big hills in the park. the hills are really quite fun. there is an element of accomplishment grinding up the mountain and finally reaching the apex. my whole body relaxes at the top and a little bit of clarity is found with the conclusion of a major climb. i know the big work is done. i can ebb and flow down to the bottom of the hill without much effort (compared to the ascent) enjoying the "ewok village" look of the park. i love the challenge of the hills.

on this particular run we laughed and joked our way to the top, searching for a more obscure yet hilarious Napoleon Dynamite quote. it must be the thinning air because i'm sure we were talking like idiots. whatever the reason we managed to crest the top with relative ease and proceeded down the steep sections of the trail. due to the heavy rains i had given up trying to keep my shoes dry and found it gratifying that i didn't care about extra 5 pounds of mud attached to me in various places. then fireball took over.

fireball's consistent need to jump and splash and vault himself over various obstacles during any run had a viral impact on mahoney and myself. within minutes we were rolling through the "excitebike" course as fast as possible. after a try at roller derby on a particularly treacherous section of roots and rocks we decided to watch fireball test the cartilage in his knees by leaping a chasm (stream included). his report of "just don't land on the rocks-they're hard" allowed mahoney and i to easily justify avoiding that madness. after a quick test of a potential swimming hole (fireball escorted by some peer pressure) we trudged back to our cars.

this may have been some of the highest quality miles i've run in a really long time. 17 miles of laughing and joking and running exactly how we felt. i shouldn't take every workout seriously and i shouldn't find my worth in a race. but we all feel that is why we run- to run faster than a clock. the huddart mud run may have been just as gratifying as running 18 seconds faster. it seems a small, slightly deviant bit of craziness can help propel one back to sanity.