random thoughts and scenic loop

I started out this morning not even wanting to run. The death of one of the kids I know yesterday left me with a "this doesn't even matter" feeling about running and some of the other things I deem important in my life. Death always changes my perspective on things, and this time is no different. It opens my eyes to the way I have prioritized my life, and as usual, things aren't were they need to be. Yes, running is important, but it is not the end and all be all of who I am as a person. It is more important for me to be a wife, sister, daughter, youth minister, friend, and faithful person right now than it is for me to be a runner. That being said...I made it to the 5:30 workout. I was a little bit late because of an accident on 35 but Steve was nice and waited for me. The down side of this was that we played catch up the whole first half of the run. I was struggling with the erratic pace. We started with Kevin, he dropped us, then we worked hard to catch the train. We took a few wrong turns somewhere but ended up catching them at a water stop. Then, of course, they picked up their pace. This is when I started falling off the back a bit. My left knee is pretty sore (IT band issues) and it was hurting to take a normal stride. I started to finally fall in to a pace on the way back towards the lake on Lake Austin Blvd. Then on the lake Ken started to pull away for awhile. I don't know why, but I wanted to make today's run mean something...so I decided to try and catch him. I figured it already was not going to be an "easy" day so why not end on a good note? I was partially thinking how the rest of the day probably won't be too good for me (have to go to the elementary school to talk to the girls who's classmate died) so I wanted to at least make the running part end well. Steve took off with me and we closed on Ken pretty quickly. I was mostly content to just pass him the settle back in to a normal closing pace, but Steve kept pushing. He said I can't throw down the gauntlet and then let up (which was my plan). So we kicked it in all the way back to Waller. On Waller I wanted to slow up big time but Steve suggested just letting up a bit to get my breathing under control instead of slowing completely. It worked. I felt pretty strong on the finish and am pleased with how the run ended up. I need to roll my IT band diligently for the next few days...fun fun.

pluses: positive end to the run

minuses: unanswered questions, the week ahead