7/28/12 Saturday

4.92 miles steady
Home to AP single loop on asphalt
37:38 • average 7:33
4:00 PM start
85 overcast (post thunderstorm)
Typical high humidity
NB MT10 pink

I started with the intention of an easy shake out run.  I had spent the the morning helping clean the house and purge for a later trip to Salvation Army.  I spent the entire afternoon doing long overdue yard work — not just cutting the eight inch high, lushly overgrown, mildly flooded, mini-lawn out front.  I had to run the weedwhacker first, followed by the old school, non-motorized push mower in order to get the grass all roughly the same level instead of looking like Sid Vicious' hairdo.  Then came raking, sweeping, hosing, tree trimming, wooden fence repair, "vine tending," deck clearing, Round Up spraying, and my most favorite: moving and consolidating the small hill in our yard that we call "the compost pile."  My shoulders are feeling all the shoveling this morning.  The cherry on top is that for the middle hour or so I was working in a major, lightning loaded thunderstorm.

So, as I was saying:  I started this run with intention of an easy shake out run.  I just wanted to cruise a bit, get a workout in, then take a long, deliciously hot shower with a cold beer in my hand.  But something a little different happened.  I ended up feeling pretty darn good, kind of peppy.  So I had one of those rare runs when I had to keep reminding myself to stay relaxed and just stride it out naturally and have fun.  And that's exactly what I did.  I had fun.