Friday, July 10, 2009

When You Boil it Down...

Autumn Leaf 5k September 2008
I'm a runner.

I will always be a runner first, and foremost. When I was young I would run with my Mother. Even at eight years old I would go with her and stop to pick flower along the way getting side tracked. Why run when you can get the pretty flowers right?! Even then I remember her saying, "Kim, we came out to exercise, we can pick flowers later."

My family is a long line of runners. My aunt and uncles run, my many cousins of all ages have run at different times of their lives in various distances from 5k to marathon. It must be in the genes I guess.

So, I guess it doesn't surprise me that even when I'm taking a break, I still can't help but run.

I feel about my feet pounding the pavement and wind sweeping acrossed my face like I do about a first love. I will always go back to it, the memories are just too sweet and the temptation of a warm breeze on a summer evening is just too much to pass up.

Running is so dang easy. No bike, no pool - no problem. All I need is those shoes and I'm out the door. Pre-tri I never knew how good I had it. With triathlon came both learning about much more preparation (bike shoes-check, sunglasses-check, helmet-check, pump-check), and the experience of starting from the ground up in two new sports. I can't believe that was just four years ago! I fell in love with the simplicity of running and the feeling of that final half mile of a nice hour run a long time ago. When the legs are light and the weather calls for "sports bra only" there isn't much I would rather ever do workout-wise than turn over those legs.

Long after the bike is put away, and the goggles are hanging I know those running shoes will always be there for me.

I'm pretty sure without trying I put in about 30 miles this week. Whoops. The point was that I didn't' have to do it, and it felt nice. No monitor, no set time, just me, the open road and the sweet smell of summer. The mental clarity it brings is as good as therapy if not better. There's never been a time I came back and thought, "wow, I feel worse than when I started!"

With that said, I'm sure the runners of the world feel me on this. I know it's time to start thinking about getting on Blue, and pulling out my new swimsuits (I just got three new ones to pump me up!) to get excited about the swim and bike again.

Have a great weekend of training everyone! I hope your bikes take you to new unchartered territory, your swims are speedy and effortless and your runs bring you back to a place you've always adored.

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