Parking Lots...

Well, if yesterday was running bliss, on the wooded trails of Indiana... Saturday was the opposite. Today I ran from our hotel in Lafayette, across the parking lots and back lot fields of the main strip... taking in the invasive smells of fast food and car exhaust. However, the beautiful warm Spring sun faded out the lackluster backdrop, and it was still a pleasant (yet again short) run.

The terrain did have the positive effect of keeping things on the slow side, and this helped make it a relatively pain free run.

I have been thinking a great deal about how impatient I have been since the loss of my father. I didn't post anything this year on the passing of my Dads birthday (March 28)... However, I did write a bit here, and I think the thoughts show a parallel again on my path of running and grief. Through the process of losing my father I gained new insights about this world (and my own place in it), but it also brought a sense of helpless-urgency that is often difficult to tame. I tend to lose sight of the importance of steady progress, and more importantly... the freedom of being able to enjoy that process. When I set out to get in shape a few years ago (the beginningof this blog) I merely wanted to get back to someplace (regain a footing). I was able to use running as a tool to help me do that, but I had problems sustaining it. I lacked a certain discipline to continue building, and was missing an element of my own curiosity to see what each run would bring (both physically and mentally). For most of my life, running (like many things) was simply part of the routine, something I felt I needed to do (rarely exploring why). The last few months I have found myself struggling... sinking into many of the dark (and all to familiar) places... I often call this Unattended Sorrow. As Spring awakens the landscape, I am hoping to awaken my own understanding of the tools at my disposal. Running is one of those tools I will use to remind me of the ongoing processes of my fitness, and my life... Small steps, adding up to an ongoing path that is me.

Today: 2+ miles
Week: 5 miles