It's good to be back.

Hello, darlin'. Nice to see ya.
It's been a long time.
You're just as lovely as you used to be.

Okay...that's enough Conway Twitty for one month. Yes, ladies and gents, I drug my poor neglected Brooks out this morning and went for a run. Actually I was supposed to do TaeBo with some of the ladies from my work building but when I walked in they were doing the Advanced tape, which I hate. If I'm going to sweat in the morning, I want it to be a good sweat, one that leaves me refreshed and ready to tackle the day; not one that's going to make me wish I had stayed home and curled up in bed (which the Advanced tape usually makes me feel). Plus the pains haven't disappeared yet so I decided to just go for a run.

I've been meaning to do this for a long time anyway, run in the morning that is. Deaner usually runs 6 each morning (during our awful winters too - he's insane) and I've been threatening to join him (I haven't quite hit the insanity level...but I'm close). So I did this morning and it was great. It was quiet, cool, only 3 of us out there (Deaner, Stanley and me) and the run felt good. Well...it felt as good as a run can feel when you haven't run in 17 days. I did 2.5 miles which was plenty and I ran slow. I need to do this more. Not only because it's good for me but also because I have that damn marathon awaiting me in October.

Okay, sorry, it's not a damn marathon. My former running buddy used to make fun of me for calling it that and questioned if I ever really wanted to run it.

Truth? It's one of those things you dread up until the moment you finish. Then it's such an incredible feeling to know what you've accomplished and that, even with all the support people cheering you on, it's really something only you could have completed alone. I loved that feeling when I was finished last year. It was such a rush of emotions - laughter, crying, exhaustion, elation, hunger. It's amazing really. And despite the fact I keep calling TC the "damn marathon" I am excited to run it again and see if I can do better. If I do worse, then consider this year my last. But if I can do better than maybe I'll have to make this my new "thing".

Besides, my shoes missed me.