The Good, The Bad and The Beautiful

The weatherman said sun and I wanted to believe him.  The raindrops falling on my skylight told me different.  Never wanting to give up hope and knowing that it was still a good hour away before meeting Melissa, I put on my running skort.  Being so anxious for spring and some sunshine, I decided even if it was going to rain I would wear the skort.  Me?  Stubborn?

7:00 a.m. Melissa and I meet at the ocean and start our run.  The clouds had parted and we were running in the sunshine.  The crisp, beautiful spring sunshine. 

The route we took led us into an older part of town where century homes lined the bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean.  Cherry blossoms were popping their bright white and pinks against the weathered grey of the branches.  Tulips were seen and daffodils burst from the passing winter's ground.  This was good.

Staying healthy and injury free has been my focus over the last couple of weeks.  My shin had brought me a couple opportunities to meet some of the great doctors we have in the area.   They had done their jobs well and through their advice and my diligence my shin had been behaving itself.  Until today.  I was being made very well aware of it and it was giving me concern.  Would it be like this for the entire run today?  This was bad.

We weaved our way through well established neighborhoods which led us to a trail that would take us back to our starting point.  My shin behaved itself and the run was passing quickly.  Right on cue, we were back to the start picking up Karen who would run the second half with me.  Following the road into downtown, Melissa stayed with us for a couple miles before turning around and heading back to her car.

This part of the course would be the most challenging for me as it would bring plenty of uphill on tired legs.  The goal was to run the entire 22 miles; no walking.  Taking the trail from downtown we headed back down toward the water to run the park.  The trail was alive with walkers and runners soaking up the beauty of the morning. 

The islands stood tall on the horizon.  Sailboats wafted on the gentle rocking of the ocean.  Running the boardwalk we were taken in by how incredibly blessed we are to live in such a beatiful part of the country.  We head up the dock away from the water and make our way through town. 

At the edge of the trail I confided in Karen that this would be the most difficult part for me as it was all uphill until we hit the bench.  She took the lead and kept me occupied.  We talked about everything, laughed about nothing and quickly discovered I can not do math when I am tired.

Finally we reach the bench and turn around to the best part of this trail - a gradual downhill until the ocean's edge.  Leaving the water and heading up the trail, we are now on the final uphill.  I remind myself this is it, the final one, the final one, the final one.  Our pace slows a bit until we reach the top of the hill.  I tell her I am tired.  She tells me I should be and we keep running. 

We are on the last two miles of the run.  Mercifully, the remaining miles are all down hill or flat.  This is a great mental boost and our pace quickens.  In the final mile I check my Garmin constantly thinking that time will magically speed up with each look so I can be finished.  Then it came.  The final chirp.  We stopped our watches and giving each other a high five I holler, "22 miles DONE!".  And that is a beautiful thing.